The Return of Dani Phantom
by R.tistiC
Summary: A few years after Phantom Planet, an unexpected visitor comes. And she's getting pumped. An encounter with The Guys in White, Wulf making a new friend, Danny being saved in grave peril: It all leads up to one thing... The Dani with an 'I' is back.
1. The Guys in White's Predicament

_**Hey everyone. This is Blackjay's older sister actually, who has been acting as her editor in her story, The Other Prophecy. I had made up a character design of an older Danielle Phantom, (you know, Danny's female clone.) After finishing the design, I got an inspiration of a story that could have her in it and just had to write it down. If you want to see what my older version of Danielle looks like, you can go to Livevideo(dot)com. I have my own account there with the username . I posted several images of her there and you can check out a preview video I made for this story as well.**_

_**So you understand the time standard for this, I'd like to point something out. Iin the whole TV series of Danny Phantom, since two summer vacations pass, it's quite logical that by Phantom Planet, Danny is at least sixteen years old. And by the second season I would think that he would have been fifteen when he first met Danielle. As for Danielle, since a full season passes in between the episodes that she is seen, she would probably be thirteen in **__**D-stabilized**__**. Anyway, this story takes place two years after the Danny Phantom movie **__**Phantom Planet **__**goes on. I would have done longer, but I still wanted Danny to be in high school. But at the same time, I wanted enough time to pass that Danielle's appearance would have changed enough for her to be unrecognizable to certain people. (You'll find out what I mean in that in future chapters.)**_

_**I'm sorry to say that since, according to the movie, Vlad is supposed to be long gone now and hit by an asteroid made of Ectoranium, that he won't be showing up in this story. I'm one who likes to keep the facts of the original story as accurate as possible. However, some other villainous characters that I really like are Freakshow and The Guys in White. Wulf also comes up in this and I'm also considering getting Frostbite in there. **_

_**Well, a tribute to Danielle Phantom, one of my all time favorite characters in Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom by Butch Hartman, here's the first chapter of my story. I know a it's a little short but it still gives the basic structure of the situation The Guys in White are in. Hope you enjoy it. **_

**The Return of Dani Phantom By R(dot)tistiC**

**Chapter 1 The Guys in White's Predicamen**t

Two men in white tuxedos with black sunglasses and gloves were busy at the controls of their secret sector in The Woods of Lake Eerie, only a few miles east of Amity Park. This location was well hidden from prying eyes, including invisible ones: namely, ghost's eyes. Not that it mattered. The one ghost that these ghost-hunters were mainly targeting didn't even seem to _want_ to find them. Let alone let _them_ find _him_.

It had been two years since Danny Phantom helped to save Earth from being hit by a massive ectoranium asteroid. Had he not gathered almost every ghost, if not all, in the Ghost Zone together to help turn the earth intangible, the entire planet would have been completely obliterated.

After saving the planet, Danny Phantom had willingly revealed his identity to the whole world as being a human boy named Daniel Fenton: Son of the ghost experts, Jack and Madeline Fenton and student of Casper High School.

Yet, despite the fact that this teenage boy was originally entirely human, The Guys in White were still ghost-hunters that viewed Danny Fenton as nothing more than the attention-seeking teenage son of expendable, upstart ghost-hunters that were dense enough by the "superhero" status of their offspring and the extra funding that came with it to ignore their own rules of engagement against stray specters. They did not even realizing the danger they were putting themselves and their daughter in by allowing a ghost-contaminated teenager to live within the same walls. The world was also so blinded by Danny's and the other ghosts appealing image that they never bothered to look passed what their motives must have truly been.

The Guys in White were completely convinced that Danny only led the ghosts to save Earth to demonstrate his superiority over normal humans that he considered too weak to save their own world by themselves. It seemed that no one else understood that he was just a crazy kid that was purposefully putting himself higher than pure humans so he could have an excuse to cause more destruction with all the constant ghost attacks that had already been happening even _before _that whole crisis. Even worse was that the press was always finding Danny in the center of it, taking him in as saving the day when he was clearly the start of it in the first place.

Well, _they_ weren't fooled by the boy's whole Mister-Nice-Ghost act. Once they caught him, they would be the ones to discover Fenton's true colors and tell the whole world about it. In addition, in order to become stronger and better ghost-hunters, they _had_ to do their research. After all, if a human boy could somehow suddenly obtain ghost-powers, what were the chances of _other_ people being contaminated with such a curse and creating evil, half-ghost villains like Vlad Plasmius?

Plasmius was known by the public to be Phantom's archenemy and had also been ruling Amity Park as mayor for a time in his human form, known as Vlad _Masters_. In accordance to what these white-clad ghost hunters thought, Masters was actually a good man that had some sense with his political views on Danny Phantom before he too became possessed by ghostly DNA that led him to want to rule the world. It was only a matter of time before Danny would be oppressing the people just as much as Masters was before he disappeared. They had to catch that boy so they could find a way to cure him of the ghost-powers that were making him soft enough in the head to want to keep them before that happened.

However, doing this particular part of their research was easier said than done. The whole world now knew the identities of both this young "ghost hero" and ill-famed former billionaire mayor, though no one had seen Masters since he failed to hold the world at ransom as Plasmius to stop the anti-ghost-elemental asteroid. Or the "Disasteroid" as people sometimes had called it.

Also, the crafty little Fenton kid was nevertheless clever enough to know that not _everyone_ would suddenly change their views about ghosts, (or ghost-_hybrids_ for that matter) no matter how good the deed was that he managed to pull over the people's eyes.

Danny Fenton had moved his family out of Fenton Works and to a place more isolated, clearly so more levelheaded people like The Guys in White would be less likely to talk his parents into coming to their senses in turning him in. No one, other than close associations to the Fenton family knew, or would even tell, of the their current whereabouts now. Though, word still had it that Danny Phantom still was traveling abroad and continuing his ghost-fighting streak.

As one can imagine, this brought about quite a bit of frustration to The Guys in White. They had been trying to locate this half-ghost teenager, but always came up short of the proper trail. They had tried every single upgrade in their ghost-detection equipment, investigated his latest battle locations, and even tried some other, rather forceful matters on people who were known to have last seen him. Despite The Guys in White's efforts, the ghost-hybrid has been successfully eluding them for two whole years already. He had probably conned his ghost-hunting family into helping him to better avoid the detection of the ghost-hunters who weren't nearly as thickheaded as they were.

The Guys in White would have asked the government a long time ago for more income to further advance their equipment, but they had already been stretching a few things to full capacity. Also, with Danny Phantom's best friend being the new mayor, it was hard to avoid suspicion as it was. Danny Phantom was practically a celebrity now. Well respected by the majority of Amity Park's population in addition to the rest of the world's. If the specter-loving mayor knew that The Guys in White were still trying to bring his friend down, their funding would be cut in two seconds and the media would be turned against them, along with the general public. Really, the only reason they were still in business was that some of their other recent ghost-catching successes were viewed as a service to make Danny Phantom's job easier, now that he was a global hero rather than just one town's.

Operative K, the African-American agent, was beginning to fall asleep at the spectral-radar screen from boredom and Operative O, the bearded, pale-faced agent, was mindlessly tinkering with other controls with no real purpose. Both were beginning to think that they should just give up and call it a night when suddenly the buzzers went off and the radar screen began to blink. A startled Operative K immediately bolted upright and looked more carefully at the screen he was seated in front of. Operative O rushed over to his partner's side to look at the scanner results for himself.

This particular scanner was only reserved for Danny Phantom's ecto-plasmic signature, so their hopes of achieving their goal had shot up very high once it started sounding.

"Looks like we finally have our target in sight." Operative K said with a triumphant look on his face.

Operative O looked over Operative K's shoulder at the scan results. It certainly seemed so. The scanners were saying that the signature didn't seem to be quite right, but if it wasn't the ghost they were looking for, they didn't think this scanner would be going off. The ghost-hybrid's parents must have made something for him to somehow scramble his signature in ghost-hunter's scanners. However, it must not have been working very well. The father of that family _was_ always considered the incompetent ghost-hunter in all of Amity Park.

"But where's the signal coming from?" Operative O asked.

Operative K examined the results further and a bit of confusion crossed his face. "Right above us." He responded.

After a slight hesitation, both men rushed to the closest window to confirm their findings. It was nighttime (passed midnight in fact) and the sky was dark. Not to mention they could barely see through the canopy of the forest where they were concealed, so it was difficult to see anything against the inky black sky. Sure enough though, both agents spotted something flying a distance above the forest at a rather leisurely speed. Even though it was dark, the two operatives could also tell that it was black and white. It would no doubt be their number one target.

"But what would he be doing way out _here_?" Operative K wondered.

"Who knows? Perhaps to conduct a secret spectral meeting with some ghosts for a staged attack, or on his way to visit his friend, the mayor from." Operative O responded distastefully at the thought of Tucker Foley. He had been a best friend of Danny Fenton both before and after Danny became known as the world's ghost-hero.

During the time of danger of the asteroid, Tucker Foley, though only in his mid-teens at the time, had already known extensively about ghost-compatible technology. He led the construction team on the building of a transfer device that had been used to help spread the ghost's intangibility power across the world so the asteroid would pass harmlessly through it. After the save, Danny Phantom had declined the nomination of being the new mayor of Amity Park, as Mayor Masters had run off, leaving his position empty, so Tucker Foley was next nominated and elected. It was clear they had always been in on it together.

The Guys in White had considered interrogation of the Fenton's whereabouts out of _him_, but they knew better than to try and break into City Hall and do something like that. If they even attempted such a thing, the press would have a heyday. Not to mention the fact that they would probably get arrested for attacking the mayor. Besides, if the mayor was loyal enough to his friend to not tell anyone his secret identity the whole time, what were the chances of him telling The Guys in White where he was hiding.

Well, whether or not Mayor Foley would have been cooperative in that regard or not didn't matter now. The Guys in White's target was now in range.

"Activate the Spectral-Diffusion device" Operative O ordered.

Without hesitation, Operative K instantly went to work on other controls. Outside a window, the two agents saw a cannon-like tube project out of the side of their stronghold and take aim at the small, flying mass.

This device had been built and perfected as well as duplicated months ago for this very purpose. If a direct hit was delivered, the device would start to slowly deplete any ghost's powers, and keep them inactive for as long as eight whole hours. Even after that time was up, the ghost would still not be able to use the powers in full until after another eight or so hours. The Guys in White had made sure of this. Since the ghost would not be able to use his powers effectively for over half a day, it would be much easier for them to take it into custody.

This device would have worked on any ghost, but the one target they were especially saving these for was Danny Phantom. And now that they had him in their sights, it was time to bring him down.

"Fire." Operative O commanded, and Operative K pressed the red, fire button.


	2. The Unexpected, but Long Awaited Hunt

_** Now Danielle Phantom will be introduced to the story. If you've seen the episode Double Cross My Heart, you'll probably get the idea of the flying machines The Guys in White use for this ghost-chase I wrote. I don't know what they actually call those things in the show, so I just called them Aerial- Chasers. In addition, those who haven't seen the episodes Kindred Spirits or D-Stabilized, in some of the description, I've included a quick rundown of how the Dani with an "I" even got into the story in the TV series. I've also included some instructions on how to get to a web page where I posted pictures that I've made of my older version of her. Go to my prophile and click on the link to the Livevideo account that I have and then click on the Photos tab. I've also done a bit of a preview for this story. If you click on the Videos tab on my livevideo channel, you can see that as well.**_

_**Disclaimer though: Danny Phantom and all of its original characters belong to Butch Hartman. Even though I purposely made my older Dani design look like she could actually be in the show, the design and this storyline idea is the only thing about Danny Phantom that belongs to me. **_

_**But anyway, hope you enjoy this next chapter.**_

**Chapter 2: The Unexpected but Long Awaited Hunt**

Flying far above the forest, where the Guys in White were hiding, was indeed a ghost-hybrid with the last name of Phantom, but an entirely different and unexpected kind. Even though, the two _did _look quite similar, there were several differences that said that this was definitely not Danny Phantom.

For one thing, this was a _girl._ A half-ghost _female_, and her name was Dan_ielle_ Phantom (or Dani for short, spelled with an I).

Like Danny Phantom, she wore a black-and-white jumpsuit with a white logo in a combination of the letters D and P on her chest, and she also had snow-white hair.

There were a few differences in the design of their jumpsuits however. On Danielle's outfit, in addition to the silver belt they both had on their waists, there was another silver strip that went from her right shoulder and extended across her chest to the waist on her left and circled back up across her back, meeting at the right shoulder again. It was just above this strip that the Phantom logo was placed. From the top of this silver strip, the right sleeve was also silver. She had a black glove that stretched passed her elbow on this arm. On the other arm her sleeve was black and the glove was silver. The neckline of her jumpsuit was also different than Danny's and her pants were curve-cut and had large, silver, shapes that extended down the side of her legs and wrapped around the ankle of her pant-legs. The silver color extended to her footwear.

The girl's lengthy, snow-white hair extended all the way down to her waist and was tied back in a low ponytail. Her long, thick bangs, when the wind wasn't blowing them back, covered half of her face, hiding one of her bright green eyes**. **

As the now, teenage ghost-girl flew towards Amity Park, she closed her eyes and felt the wind fly passed her face and through her long, white, pony-tailed hair. She continued to soar as she began reflecting back on passed events she had with her cousin Danny. Or rather, that's what she always referred to him as.

In reality, the two actually had no relation at all. Danielle had been the result of a faulty and evil experiment conducted by none other than Vlad Plasmius himself. He had been trying to make a clone of Danny to have as his own son and annihilate the original Danny. When he kept on getting unsatisfactory results, he had sent Danielle, the only decent clone he was able to make so far, to assist in capturing the _real_ ghost-boy to get a proper DNA sample, so Vlad could complete his primary-clone. Danielle, thinking that Vlad truly considered her to be a daughter to him, gladly did whatever he asked her to.

It was fortunate that before things went too far, Danny was able to help the girl clone of him see how Vlad really only thought of her as a mistake: nothing more than "a mess that he wasn't going to clean up" as Danny had put it.

Danielle, at first, refused to listen to him. Vlad had told her that the DNA sample was to stabilize _her_ to keep her from melting down to a green puddle of ectoplasm like all the other imperfect clones did. But when Vlad asked her to put her own life on the line to get the sample, she realized that Danny was right and rebelled against her creator.

Teaming up with Danny, they were able to defeat Vlad and stop his 'Danny Phantom replacement' plans. After that event, the two Phantoms practically considered each other as cousins since they were already similar in so many ways. In fact, since she was after all a clone of the ghost boy, he technically thought of her to be a part of him.

Danielle still wondered how, even though she was working for Vlad, Danny was able to see passed the evil servant of his arch nemesis and see the desperate little, supposedly only twelve-year-old, girl who was only wanting to stay alive.

However it happened though, the clone of the original Danny Phantom was eternally grateful for it. Later on, Danny had even helped her to find a way to stabilize her and keep Vlad from purposely melting her down into non-being.

Since then, Danielle had been doing some crime fighting of her own. Just, in a more anonymous matter than her older cousin. She wasn't nearly as well known as the hero that _he_ was. In fact, hardly anyone knew that she even existed. And she preferred it that way. She felt it wasn't her place to steal the reputation her cousin had earned simply by working so hard to get rid of the one he originally had as a juvenile fugitive.

During her two years of undercover acts of service, Danielle had also been wandering around in her human form, checking the news whenever possible and seeing how her cousin was doing. After a while though, she decided that she wanted to see him personally.

The problem was, since she too had been out and abroad, she hadn't been in touch with Danny. Therefore, she didn't know where the Fenton's were now living. But she was still determined to find him and she thought Amity Park would be the best place to start. Perhaps she could ask Tucker, if he was willing. She and the friend of her cousin had not exactly become acquainted the last time they met. Still, it would be worth a try.

As she was seeing Amity Park up ahead, she started to think of how Tucker would react to her sudden reappearance. She also began to think of what to check out first as soon as she arrived, when she suddenly heard a loud bang from below her.

Baffled, she looked down to see what in the woods could possibly be making such a noise. Then she gasped, for she saw something electronic and blue flying right at her from the canopy of the woods. The girl-hybrid halted in mid-flight as fast as she could and barely dodged it in time. It zoomed right in front of her, missing her only by inches. "Whoa! Where'd _that_ come from?" She exclaimed aloud.

0000000000

Back down in the woods, the Guys in White slammed their fists on the control panels in frustration at having missed their target. "We'll have to get the aerial-chasers. We can't lose him." Operative K. said urgently and they rushed outside.

The two flying machines were parked just outside their stronghold and the agents each got into their own and took off.

Since Danny was on the governments good side now, if he got away and told them about the attack they had put him under, the Guys in White would be in trouble.

As soon as they rose above the canopy, they began firing at the shadowed mass of ecto-energy with anti-ecto-weapons that their vehicles were equipped with. The ghost dodged them and then abruptly bulleted away, towards Amity Park, faster than ever. The Operatives zoomed after what they thought was Danny Phantom and started firing ecto-blasters at it, which the ghost additionally dodged.

They turned on the headlights for their crafts to try and get a better view of their target but it began to zigzag everywhere, staying out of range of their lights. It seemed Phantom had become much better at eluding them than ever, but they still had to bring him down if they were going to remain in business. They would not lose him again after two whole years of searching.

The two ghost-hunting agents stayed focused and locked onto their target, slowly beginning to gain as they fired more blasts from their ecto-weapons. The ghost only dodged the ones it could and any other blasts seemed to be canceled out by green, destructive energy that it fired back. The Guys in White still couldn't quite see the form, despite the light-show but they guessed that the green blasts were ecto-plasmic energy rays. The only ghost they knew who used those so commonly was Danny Phantom, so it _must_ be him.

The mass of ectoplasm kept swerving this way and that, in an airborne chase, occasionally trying to fire more ecto-rays at its pursuers, but the ghost-hunters simply shielded themselves from the attacks and kept closing in. They were now only yards away from their prey. They turned their lights back on and barely got a glimpse of the black and white jumpsuit when the target suddenly vanished.

The Guys in White halted in their air vehicles, and hovered on the spot, looking around in the dark night sky.

"He must have turned invisible." Operative K. said.

"It doesn't matter, whether he's invisible or not." Operative O. responded, as he started pressing some buttons on his craft's control panel. "We can still detect him with our new scanners."

Sure enough, within only a few seconds, they detected the ecto-plasmic signature. According to the scanners, the source of the signature had also stopped. It was trying to creep around them and back in the direction of Amity Park. They suspected that the ghost must have thought the sudden rush of wind of something in full flight would alert them of its whereabouts, so it wasn't just bolting.

Being careful not to show that they knew where it was, Operative K. charged another Spectral-Diffusion devise that they had installed in their aerial-chasers. Taking aim at the indicated place on the Spectral-Radar, he fired.

The device flew forward and true from its shooting mechanism. Only a few yards away, the device stopped suddenly, seemingly in midair, and emitted blue sparks of electric energy as it nailed its target.

"Direct hit." Operative K. said, with a broad grin. The Guys in White smiled as they heard the ghost cry out in pain. It was then that they shined their vehicle headlights on their victim that they saw something blurry start to take form before it started falling down towards the woods below.

"We'll lose the ecto-plasmic signature on our scanners once his ghost-powers are dysfunctional." Operative O. reported but also smiling in triumph.

"He won't get far without them anyway. He'll be much easier to take into custody once that happens." Operative K. responded. Then the two steered their crafts downward to retrieve their fallen prey.

0000000

Danielle felt herself tumble further and further down, towards the canopy of the woods. The sharp pain she felt in her side where the device had hit, sent the worst tingling sensation throughout her entire body and she felt herself start to lose control of her powers.

She continued falling as she struggled to get the device that was doing this to her off. The tingling got worse to a point where it almost hurt. She looked down to see the tops of the trees rushing at her as she fell towards them. The injured girl tried to go intangible to ease the impact when it happened, but it wasn't working. She was also starting to flicker in and out of invisibility and she knew she couldn't hold it for much longer.

She braced herself, and hit the canopy like a comet. But she didn't stop there. She continued to tumble down through the thick branches of the trees hitting several especially large branches painfully hard on the way. She tried to grab a hold of one of them to stop her fall, but another jolt from the device that was still clinging onto her forced her to let go. She fell the rest of the way to the ground, which she hit hard on her back.

By now, she lost her control of her invisibility completely and turned perceptible again, unwillingly. She struggled to her hands and knees and another sudden spectral-disrupting jolt reminded her of the infernal device. With great effort against the continuous jolts and pain from the device, she finally ripped it off and tossed it aside.

She moaned as she felt her right side where the device had been. It still hurt and she didn't feel herself getting any better despite the devices removal. She sat back on her knees and moved her hand away to examine where the pain was. To her slight shock, she found green, slimy stuff had stained her silver glove. Her first impulse was that she was melting again, but then she realized that the green substance was her ghost-blood. The constant jolts that came from the device must have penetrated her jumpsuit and pierced her skin.

She had no time to tend to it, though. Just then, the teenage ghost heard the sound of aircrafts beginning to close in. Her attackers were still after her. She had to get out of there.

Danielle stood up and tried to fly but was only able to float forward a few feet before also losing _that_ power. Her feet drifted back into contact with the ground.

The female hybrid's attackers were getting closer, and she hated to think what would happen if they found her.

Since she couldn't fly, she resorted to running. The ghost-hunters continued to close in as she dodged and ducked through low branches and foliage of the woods.

In spite of her surprising effort, the ghostly girl still didn't get very far before she started to feel the rest of her strength begin to fall short. Eventually, she just couldn't run anymore and slowed down to another tree. Leaning on it for support, she took several deep breaths before looking behind her to see her pursuers getting closer, still.

They were perhaps only a fifty feet away now. Danielle knew she had to keep going if she was to avoid getting caught. But as soon as she took another step forward, she collapsed to her hands and knees on the forest floor.

As much as she tried to get back up, her muscles just would not hold out for her. She couldn't keep the energy she needed to maintain her ghost form either. Her powers completely gave out and the girl felt herself revert back to her human form before her physical strength also left her. She collapsed the rest of the way to the ground, hearing the sounds of the ghost-hunters now closing in with their flying machines. It was over. The teenage hybrid could barely move, much less escape.

Within another second or two she started to hear raspy breathing noises, gradually getting louder all the time. She forced her strength to hold her head up for just a second and looked through blurring and unfocused eyes to see moving bushes and branches. The movement of the heavily leaved undergrowth came closer to her by the second. Something else was in the woods and moving fast, towards her. But she couldn't keep her head up to see what it was. She was too weak to get away from _that_ either.

The girl's head dropped to the ground and all she saw of what it was, before slipping into unconsciousness, was a massive, dark form that stopped over her now helpless body.

00000

"The signature's gone from the Radar now." Operative K. said.

"No matter." Operative O. put in. "The monitor said that he stopped before we lost it. We still know where he is, even if the scanners can't detect him anymore."

The two agents, with feelings of accomplishment, steered their one-person aircrafts down to the sight where the spectral signal was last indicating. They slowly descended through the brush of the canopy until it started to clear up and they could see the forest floor. They carefully maneuvered through the trees, visually scanning the area to see where their ghostly victim had fallen. But they couldn't find what they were looking for.

"Strange." Operative O. commented out loud. "I could have sworn he landed around here before we lost the signal." They found a nice clear spot on the forest floor and smoothly landed there. The agents got out of the crafts and looked around for a second.

"With his ghost-powers shorted out, he couldn't have gotten far." Operative K. told him. "Let's split up."

"Acknowledged."

Both took out spectral restraints for when they found their captive and went their separate ways. They didn't bring their scanners, since they would be useless in finding Danny Phantom right now anyway and began to search, keeping a wary eye out.

Their search spread further and further away from the original spot and they still couldn't find the ghost they were sure they had succeeded in shooting down.

Though, they had brought pocket flashlights, they couldn't see any tracks through the thickly darkened brush and shadow of the woods, much less the forest floor. The headlights of their hovercrafts would have been better use, but the woods were too thick around here to be able to move through them with something that bulky.

Neither operative kept track of how much time passed since they left their crafts but it was clear that it was a very long time indeed. In fact, it was far too long a time to have still not found their subject.

"This is impossible." Operative K. contacted through a com-link to his partner. "How could he have just disappeared?"

"He couldn't have turned invisible if his ghost-powers aren't working." Operative O. pointed out in response through his own com-link. "And the device was specifically programmed to also drain any physical, human strength that he had."

"Could there have been a glitch in the Spectral-Diffuser?"

"Negative. We've checked for any errors in the programming, as well as in the device itself, several times."

"So if nothing was wrong with the device, where could he have gone?"

Neither agent spoke for a long time as they disappointedly made their way back to their aerial-chasers. When they met back at their aircrafts, they took off and headed back towards their base.

This time, if word got out to the government, the Guys in White were in for it. But how in the world could the ghost-hybrid have escaped from them in the first place? Despite their seemingly flawless plans of bringing him in, he had slipped through their fingers. The question still remained of how.


	3. The Misunderstandings of a Friend

_**And now, and I don't know about you readers, but now we get one of the parts I've been waiting for. Danielle gets introduced to Danny's ferocious but good friend, Wulf. Oh yeah, and if you look on my livevideo account, like mentioned in the second chapter, you can see a picture of Dani's human form too. Anyway. Enjoy.** _

**Chapter 3: Misunderstandings of a Friend**

Danielle woke up without really looking at her surroundings before closing her eyes again. It took a while for her to remember what had happened that could have ended her up here. But when she recalled being chased down by those ghost-hunters in the white tuxedos, she was afraid of what she might find herself in if she allowed herself to look around.

There was one time when she had woken up in a lab that belonged to Plasmius, where he attempted to melt her down completely. Back then, she was already having trouble keeping herself whole. Had Danny not come and saved her from that happening, she wouldn't even exist anymore. Danielle didn't know who these guys that attacked her were, but she was afraid they may try to do the same thing Plasmius tried to, or at least something similar that was equally or even more painful.

She didn't feel any restraints binding her to one place. That was a good sign. But what if she was still in some sort of containment chamber that was ghost-proof? Whatever reason they were after her in the first place, aside from the fact that she was a ghost, she didn't want to open her eyes and find out. Whatever torture or experimenting they were waiting to do, if they didn't know she was awake, chances were, they wouldn't even start it.

The frightened ghost-hybrid kept her eyes shut and listened hard for any voices that might be planning something terrible. But she didn't hear any. It felt comfortably warm though, which was a little surprising. She remembered Plasmius' lab being cold and the examination table he had bound her to was smoother and flatter than the surface she was on now.

Vlad or any ghost-hunter would hardly put in any feature that elevated the victim's head for comfort. Yet that was the position she felt she was currently in. What was going on?

The ghost-girl listened more carefully. She definitely heard cracking noises right beside her. The thought of what might be cracking scared her, but after a few more seconds of focused listening, she started to notice…crickets chirping? Danielle highly doubted that any lab would have special sound effects for the satisfaction of their captive, experiment subjects. And what lab area that experimented on ghosts, or ghost-hybrids, would be outside?

With thoughts going through her head that maybe this might not be as bad as she thought, the teenage girl decided to just take a peak. Slowly, she opened her eyes…and found herself staring up at a stone ceiling. This was quite surprising enough, but her eyes then shifted down to a dull-colored blanket that was draped over her. Sitting up, and looking on the ground behind her, she saw that there was a smoothed, triangular, rock that was acting as a sort of hard pillow for her.

Danielle removed the blanket from her person and looked down at herself to find that she had her human appearance. Her hair was jet-black and tied back in the usual ponytail with the long bangs hiding half of her face, covering one of her now clear blue eyes. Her shirt was a light-blue and hooded top with short sleeves. Coming out from under the short sleeves were long, white ones that covered the rest of her arms to the wrists. In addition, she wore red slacks that had a curved, inward cut at the knee and white tennis shoes that had a bit of blue on them**. (Check out 's livevideo channel to see a picture of how I envisioned her human form as well.)**

Looking beside her, Danielle saw a nice, warm fire that was crackling and illuminated the majority of her surroundings, which she discovered was the inside of a cave.

Just as she was starting to feel relieved that she was safe, a sudden, fearful chill ran down her back at hearing raspy breathing noises coming from behind her. Only a half a second after noticing this, she remembered the something else in the woods that was coming at her before she blacked out.

The mid-teen hybrid quickly spun around to look behind her and gasped at the sight of the monstrous thing that was breathing so noisily: A massive, black, and hairy, doglike beast that was wearing a bright green, hooded, and torn up outfit. On one of its wrists was a metallic cuff of some sort and the enormous paws had long, emerald talons that glistened in the firelight.

The scruffy furred monster spotted the ghost-girl and began moving towards her with soft, growling noises that exposed its equally huge and sharp white teeth.

Danielle panicked at the enormous beast's approach and scooted away, towards the cave wall. "Get away from me!" She shouted at the hideous creature.

The dog thing suddenly stopped at her demand with an expression of surprised confusion. Danielle, perplexed herself at the animal's reaction, unknowingly relaxed a little. But when it took another step closer to her, she rolled onto her feet and retreated to the cave wall behind her. She then turned to face the beast, getting ready to Go Ghost. "Don't make me do this." She warned, and then focused on the power lodged inside her.

A glowing, white ring appeared around her that expanded from her waist. But just as it stretched to its full capacity to change her to her Phantom form, the ring suddenly fizzled out.

"What the…" The teenage girl exclaimed and tried again. But her attempt to morph only ended in the same result. "Oh no." She said to herself dreadfully, looking down at her hands. "I can't Go Ghost." The young hybrid felt her panic rising as she looked up at the beast that was slowly moving towards her still.

The powerless ghost-teen stepped back against the wall in terror, looking around frantically until she spotted the mouth of the cave to her right. It was perhaps about twenty feet away. If she ran for it, the beast would undoubtedly chase her and she didn't know how fast it was. However, without her ghost-powers working at the moment, what else could she do?

As the beast stepped ever closer, it reared up on its hind legs and stretched to its full height, which made Danielle even more frightened at its appearance. Despite the fear, she braced herself, waited for a second, and then bolted.

The girl ran as fast as she could towards the cave opening. She was half way there, but then something intangible suddenly passed right through her, stopping ahead of her and blocking her escape route. The giant dog became solid again and barked at her once as she nearly ran head on into it.

Danielle let out an involuntary shriek of fright at the sudden sound and fell backwards onto the stone, cave floor. "A…ghost dog?" Danielle said, after contemplating what had just happened. If that was a ghost, why didn't she sense it in the cave with her when she woke up? Then it occurred to her that her ghost-powers must have become so useless, that not even her ghost-sense worked anymore.

Danielle had first thought she would wake up in an experimental vat or something, and now it appeared that she had fallen into a situation that was possibly even worse. Her powers weren't working and she was up against a spectral-beast that was perhaps three times her size. Even if she _did_ make it out of the cave, she now knew that she would never be able to outrun it.

With dog-like pants, the gigantic creature walked towards her again.

Just knowing she was done for, Danielle cringed, rolling onto her side, and ducking her head under her hands. From underneath her arm, the girl saw the giant paw of the beast set down right in front of her face. She shut her eyes tight as she felt it start to sniff her.

Any minute now, the carnivorous animal was going to deliver the killing blow, and there was nothing she could do about it. The helpless teenage girl waited, curling up her body and letting out soft frightened, whimpers. But the blow didn't come. The big dog just kept sniffing her until its wet black nose came up to where her face was. Danielle cringed away with a small gasp of fear and wrapped her arms over her head even tighter. Still, the ghost monster kept sniffing and Danielle didn't move, frozen to the spot in complete terror of what might happen next.

The big dog lightly bumped the girl's elbow with its enormous muzzle. Confused at this action, Danielle chanced a look. The massive beast's face was inches from hers, but for some reason, it seemed less frightful. Its snout was low enough that she could only see above the giant fanged jaws and into its large eyes. For such a monstrous appearance, the ghost animal had rather friendly looking green eyes that gave Danielle a feeling of…reassurance.

Slowly, Danielle removed her hands and raised her head to look deeper into the giant and yet calming eyes. Almost as if there was something she was trying to decipher from them. "You're…you're not gonna hurt me?" She asked, though she wondered if the hairy creature even understood her. As the ghost's snout neared towards her face again, the girl recoiled, but all the creature did was gently lick her face.

After another moment of silent staring, the beast lifted its massive head to look outside the cave. Danielle, propping herself up on her forearm, followed its gaze to the dark night outside the cave. The dog-creature then raised its clawed, humanoid paw upward and pointed out towards the sky. Danielle pushed herself up with her arms and looked in the direction indicated where she saw two pairs of lights rise from the trees of the woods.

Danielle shifted herself to her hands and knees and crawled a little towards the cave mouth, squinted to try and get a better look at whatever was projecting the lights. Through the darkness, she thought she remembered the shapes of those things. Then it dawned on her and she quickly crawled back away. "Hey, those are the guys that attacked me." She said. The fear she felt just a minute ago had returned as she recalled what they did to her. She looked at her open hands again, remembering how she couldn't transform a few minutes ago. The device those men had hit her with must have taken her ghost powers away. Hopefully, only temporarily. Danielle looked back up at the ghost as he turned his own gaze back to her. "Did…did you save me from them?" In response, the creature almost seemed to smile.

Then, he started using his giant muzzle to nudge the girl. Not quite understanding this, Danielle only scooted back about a foot. He nudged a bit harder, scooting her back even further away from the cave opening. A bit hesitantly but now getting the idea, Danielle crawled back towards the fire and sat down in the place she had originally awoken in. The hairy beast then went to the other side of the fire.

In watching some sparks fly out of the burning logs, Danielle came to yet another realization. "You built the fire, too?" The animal nodded its hairy head. Danielle set her hand down and felt the blanket that she then remembered had been put over her. "And you gave me the blanket." Her hand then, instantaneously went to her side where she remembered feeling pain before going unconscious. It didn't hurt nearly as much anymore. The wound had some dark, bluish stuff that had dried over it. Danielle guessed it must have been some sort of healing substance. "And you patched me up." She added. When the ghost-dog crossed over to her again and gave her another friendly lick in response, Danielle's fears left her completely.

Had the teen hybrid thought through this before, she would never have been afraid that this thing would eat her or something. As the ghostly dog sat next to her, she started to feel a bit foolish to have threatened him so when he never meant to harm her. In fact this ghost had rescued her from the men that _did _mean such a thing.

At that moment, another thought occurred to her that she had to ask. "But…why?" She questioned, confused. "I didn't know there were any other friendly ghosts besides Danny Phantom." At the mention of Danny's name, the creature's ears suddenly perked up and he stared at her with his big green eyes again. "What?" She asked. The giant dog turned himself to face her. She recoiled towards the wall just behind her at his sudden movement but she remained calm. The creature sat back on his hind legs and reached into the front of his hooded covering with his front paw. He pulled something out and presented it to the girl.

It seemed to be some sort of beat-up photograph. Danielle examined it a bit closer and saw that it was a picture of Danny and his two friends, Tucker Foley and Samantha Manson. Tucker stood in the middle with a proud grin. His arms were around the shoulders of his two friends who stood on either side of him with smiles of their own.

"Hey, where did you get this?" Danielle asked in surprise. "Did, _he_ give this to you?" When the creature didn't seem to understand, she pointed to Danny in the photo. "Danny. Did he give this to you?" The huge dog shook his head and used one of his giant, green claws to point to Tucker. "_He_ did? His friend did?" The ghost nodded. "But you _do_ know Danny, right?"

The creature tucked the photograph back into his covering and walked towards another cave way that Danielle hadn't noticed until now. The dog-like ghost stopped beside it and looked back at her. "You…you want me to follow you?" She asked, slowly standing up. The creature merely stood there as Danielle walked slowly towards the opening where he waited.

When she reached the cavity in the rock, she looked inside. It was dark but the girl hybrid could still make out a short passageway that led to what must be another room of sorts. She tried to charge a green ecto-sphere in her hand to illuminate it better before going in, but she couldn't channel the required ghostly energy to get anything to appear at all. Sighing in frustration, she remembered that her powers didn't work right now.

Still, if the creature was wanting to show her something, she couldn't just go in blindly. How would she be able to see it? Danielle would have to find an alternative solution. She looked around behind her in the roomy cave to see if she could spot one. When her eyes rested on the fire, she walked over to it, found a good-sized stick that was only burning at one end and removed it from the hot flames. Walking back to the tunnel with her new torch, she used it to light her way and step through the passage. The black furred ghost ducked into the tunnel-like doorway and followed in close step behind her.

The tunnel was only maybe a few yards long but it was huge. The ghost girl supposed it would _have_ to be, or the ghost beast would have to go intangible to get to the other side.

Danielle reached the end of the tunnel and raised the blazing end of the torch above her head as she entered a rather large, domelike cavern. But what she noticed _after_ the size of it, almost immediately after, nearly took her breath away.

Danielle raised the torch even higher and her eyes widened at the sight she was taking in. "Wow," was all she could say in a whisper, as she was completely awed at the sight. The domelike cavern was a lot bigger than it seemed from outside the passage to it and in the dark. The walls were rough but about every inch of it was covered in perhaps hundreds of pictures that seemed to have been scratched in. They weren't necessarily that definable but it was amazing nonetheless. It was like an entire historical monument of some kind.

"Did _you_ do all this?" She asked, turning to the scruffy furred creature as it entered the cavern behind her. The black, hairy animal only walked passed her to one particular place on the wall and stood next to it. Danielle followed with the torch and shined it on the place he seemed to be indicating.

From the light of the torch, Danielle could make out another carved in, doodle. At first it just looked like a big scribble, but as she looked closer, she started to recognize a person that was drawn out in short, straight lines. As small as it was to be made with long talons like the ones this creature had, Danielle could still make out what appeared to be a D on the chest of a boy with spiky hair.

"Hey, is that Danny?" She asked, pointing to the picture and smiling up at the giant dog. He seemed to smile at Danielle's reaction to the drawing and she moved the torch further along the basic area. More marks could be seen that she thought looked like an entire fight scene. Several additional scratches were made into the drawing that made it seem more chaotic. In the middle of this doodle, there was a larger picture of a scruffy looking animal and Danny (as the ghost girl guessed) standing side by side.

"Amiko" the dog creature said, pointing to the image of Danny and the other series of scratches that Danielle guessed was supposed to be his own self-portrait.

"I'm sorry?" She said confused, and a little surprised as well. It was the first time she heard him say anything. She realized it couldn't be anything in English but it was definitely unexpected from a ghost animal that had been using nothing but growling noises until now.

"Mia amiko" The ghost repeated. Then after a moment, he added, seemingly with a bit of difficulty in pronouncing the word, "friend."

Looking over the whole scene on the wall, Danielle made the connection. "So, Amiko is Friend?" The ghost beast seemed to perk up a bit, so evidently, Danielle must have been on the right track. Referring back to the battle drawing, she then said aloud. "So…you…fought with him…you're a friend of Danny Phantom's?" The beast nodded. "And that's how you got that photo." The creature nodded.

The ghost girl now had heard and seen everything. What luck to have run into such a fearsome looking beast that turns out to be a ghost. But a _friendly_ ghost that had possibly just saved her life. Not to mention, one that knew her cousin on good terms.

"Who _are_ you?" She asked in awe, turning to the ghost-dog and looking up into the face of this scruffy beast.

The creature turned and picked up a flat rock that would definitely have been too heavy for a fifteen-year-old ghost-girl to lift in her human form. He then started to scratch something into the rock with his long and dangerous looking claws. To Danielle, it looked like he could have been doing another messy doodle.

It was only a few seconds before he finished and turned the rock around to reveal what he had carved into it. It was but a single four-letter word that Danielle thought must be what his name was.

Wulf.

**_Okay, so that's my vision of Dani's first encounter with Wulf. Those of you who watch The Legion of Superheroes on Kid's WB (or what that channel used to be called), yes dani's meeting with Wulf in this chapter is almost just like how Saturn-girl meets Timberwolf. But under the circumstances, I couldn't think of any better way for Wulf and Danielle to meet. And though the pattern of events are pretty much the same, it's also the most logical way a powerless ghost girl would have reacted to a big, scary looking ghost monster that had brought her to a cave. How would you react to a situation like that?_**

**_What I really want your opinion on though is the big monument thing Wulf made. What do you think? Was that a good idea?_**


	4. An Uninvited Guest

**_I know it's only been a day since my sister posted the last chapter for me but that's because I had planned out a lot of the story already before I actually started writing it. This chapter took quite a while to fully develop._**

**_Before the writing process, I had done a script write of a certain part this whole story has now been built off. (I won't give any details until I actually get to that chapter but don't worry, it's not far behind this one.) I had originally planned out that part first though, but I could never think of how to make the story lead up to it until recently. I thank my sister Blackjay for helping me along with ideas for it._**

**Chapter 4: An Uninvited Guest…or rather, _Ghost_**

Danielle woke up the next morning from feeling warm sunlight on her face. When she opened her eyes, she squinted from the sudden brightness. When her eyes were able to adjust however, she was able to see the beautiful sunrise just starting to peak over to tops of the trees of the woods outside. Golden rays came in through the cave mouth and bathed the girl in its comforting radiance.

"Now, _there's_ a sight for sore eyes." Danielle commented out loud. She looked around, finding herself in the same spot where she first discovered Wulf. She remembered last feeling drowsy while looking at the archive he had shown her last night. She suspected she must have fallen asleep examining it, and Wulf must have brought her back to the fire.

The fire had burnt out during the night, but the girl-ghost-clone still had the blanket over her like last time, and the sun was out and warm enough that she didn't need the fire anyway.

In fact, now that she thought of it, she was feeling quite a bit different than she had last night. Her side now felt much better and she didn't feel as scrambled on the inside. Did she have her powers back now?

Danielle closed her eyes and tried to find the center of her power within, to bring it out and Go Ghost, but when she tried to focus, she couldn't find it. Feeling disappointed in the failure, she decided to test some of her individual powers. She channeled an ecto-charge in her hand and a green glow appeared. Just as she was getting excited, though, the charge faded out within a few seconds. Still feeling hopeful, the hybrid moved on to intangibility. But she couldn't thrust her hand into the rocky wall beside her, no matter how hard she pushed. She tried invisibility next and she was only able to flicker in and out of the transparent state.

"Aw, man." she said with a sigh. Her powers were still not working. Still, she remembered that last night, she wasn't even able to make a spark with her ecto ray. This time, she was able to get a decent glow before losing it. Even if her powers didn't work properly right _now_, she seemed to be getting them back. Whatever the ghost-hunters in white suits had done to her last night to make her lose her powers, it was only temporary like she had hoped. All she would have to do is wait until then, and she could be on her way to Amity Park again. In the meantime, she could stay here with Wulf, where she knew she was safe.

Where _was_ Wulf anyway? Danielle threw the blanket off her and stood up, looking around the spaciouse cave. She looked in the archive room as well and she didn't see him there. _Probably out hunting or something_. She thought, with a shrug. Then she wondered if ghost dogs really _needed_ to hunt.

The girl paced over to the cave opening and looked down the slope of the mountain face to see if she could see Wulf below. Not seeing him anywhere, she still took a bit of time to observe the cave's surroundings. She noticed a big waterfall a few feet from the cave mouth to her left. Looking down, just a few feet below the cave, there was a ledge sticking out far enough for even Wulf to walk along. It led behind the waterfall and beyond where she could see.

Danielle thought she could get down to the ledge and back by herself but until she could Go Ghost and fly again, it seemed that she didn't really have any other choice but to stay.

Well, she wasn't worried. She really wanted to get to Amity Park and see if she could find Danny, but she didn't mind staying with one of his friends.

The teenage ghost leaned against the inner-cave wall to watch the rest of the sunrise before going back in to have another look at the archive cavern for a while.

She went in with a torch she was able to light the old fashioned way. As she ran her fingers along the carvings, she still couldn't really understand what most of the pictures meant, but with a little bit of Wulf's help last night, she was able to at least understand that Danny had set him free of some kind of prison. It also looked like they had fought alongside each other in a few battles.

The young girl wished she could decipher more, and it would certainly help if she understood the strange language Wulf used. But even though the battle and freedom events were the only things Danielle was able to be completely sure of, the whole dome of historic pictures was still wondrous to look at.

It amazed the girl-hybrid that Wulf would have spent so much time getting all of this down when she knew that every other ghost she knew was usually another one of her cousin's mortal enemies. Wulf must have thought very highly of Danny if he would take the time to do all of this for the sake of the memory.

Danielle wondered if her ghostly cousin knew about this monumental dome his hairy friend had made. She also wondered how long it has been since Wulf saw Danny. She sure wished she could understand him better, then she could ask. Maybe Danny knew the language he spoke. He must if they were friends. Well, At least Wulf seemed to understand _her_ well enough.

As the girl let out a sigh, a mist of cold air emitted from her mouth. A ghost was near. "Well, at least my ghost-sense works now." Danielle said aloud. Maybe Wulf was back.

She hurried through the passageway and out into the main cave, toward the cave mouth. When she got to the opening, she looked down over the edge, expecting to see Wulf climbing up the slope.

But, but to her slight shock, instead, she saw a figure in a blood-red, hooded cloak with big spikes that were going down the center of the back of the hood, gliding upward alongside the mountain slope, towards the cave.

Knowing it must have been the ghost she sensed just now, Danielle quickly dodged out of sight, taking cover behind a large rock that was a couple feet from where the fire was built. Carefully peaking over the top, she saw as the red-cloaked ghost floated into view of the cave and just continued its assent upward and out of sight again, barely sparing a glance inside the cave on the way.

Guess it just wasn't interested. But just after Danielle let out a sigh of relief, the ghost suddenly glided back down and took another peak inside the cave. Danielle quickly ducked behind the rock again. It didn't really look in her direction when it looked back in the cave so it must not have seen her in passing. Right at that moment though, the ghost-girl remembered how the ghost-hunters who were chasing her last night deceived her into thinking that they didn't know where she was, and shot her down. What if this ghost really _did_ see her and it just wasn't showing it? If it was a threat, Wulf wasn't around, and Danielle didn't have her ghost powers back yet.

She looked cautiously back over the top to watch what the ghost was doing, and waited. The ghost seemed to be looking around more thoroughly as it slowly began gliding into the cave. Danielle felt her fear steadily rise, as the ghost continued nearer to where the teenage girl was hiding.

Danielle carefully maneuvered around the rock to keep herself concealed. She eventually got to a point where the space between the cave-wall and the rock was too small to squeeze through but she felt she was hidden well enough for now: Unless, like last time, this new, unknown enemy was playing with her.

The ghost made its way to where Danielle had slept the night before. It extended an arm out from under its cape and Danielle noticed that the figure it belonged to was definitely a woman. The arm was also green and covered in tattoos that looked like they resembled different animals. The hand picked up the blanket as if examining it…or wondering why a campsite was in a cave this far up a slope that would usually seem impossible for any human to climb without the proper equipment.

At this exact thought, the ghost-powered teen started getting nervous. Even if this cloaked ghost-woman didn't know Danielle was there, she was already suspecting something.

The ghost looked up in the direction the girl was hiding. Danielle quickly withdrew behind the rock but she was almost sure that she had been seen. The temporarily defective ghost felt her heart pounding and her breathing was getting heavier. She tried to calm herself and made another effort to turn invisible. Aside from her ghost-sense, it seemed to be the only power she was the closest to getting back. She doubted it would work now, but she still had to try. She looked to the cave wall and saw the cast shadow of the ghost coming towards her hiding place.

_Come on. Come on. Please. _Danielle thought desperately, trying to find that source inside her that triggered her power to become unseen. She focused as hard as she could and finally found that center of her power and used it. She turned invisible, just as the ghost was coming around to where Danielle was hidden. The teenage ghost-girl held her breath as the hooded head of the cloaked lady came to peak around the rock.

Now Danielle could see the ghost's menacingly, glowing red eyes looking out from the shadowed face that was hidden beneath the hood. When the ghost came around behind the rock Danielle was hiding behind, the eyes then looked confused. They shifted around the basic area where Danielle was sitting unseen.

The teenage girl stayed still but started feeling herself losing the invisibility again. She focused as hard as she could to maintain her transparent state. She couldn't hold it for much longer. She shut her eyes to try and help her focus on that center of the power she was desperately trying to keep active. But she continued to lose her grasp of it.

She squinted up at the ghost who was staring right at her to see the glowing-eyed ghost, shrug under her cape. Then she glided away.

Just in time too. Just as the blood-red cape floated out of sight behind its owner, Danielle had barely lost her ability to stay imperceptible. She let out a big, but quiet and controlled sigh of relief and peaked back around where she could still spy on the ghost. She appeared to be just glancing around until she faced the ghost-teen's basic direction again, but looking passed her hiding place this time…towards the passage to the archive.

_Oh, no._ Danielle couldn't let her go in there, even if there was no one to find. If this ghost was another enemy of Danny's and she recognized the pictures, she might do something to wreck it.

The cloaked woman began gliding in the direction of the passageway. As she passed the rock the teen was hiding behind, the girl made up her mind. Her ghost-powers may have been defused right now but she could at least keep this snoopy ghost out of Wulf's special room. But she couldn't just jump out and purposely look like she was leading her away from the cavern. She would have to think of something else. She looked around her, and when she spotted the pile of wood that was once a burning fire, she got an idea.

The cloaked ghost continued her route to the passageway when Danielle suddenly bolted as noisily as possible from behind the rock and disturbed the burnt wood as if she had accidentally stepped in it in her rush.

The ghost suddenly spun around and spotted her. The glowing eyes under the hood looked startled at first from the sudden noise, but then they became sinister and evil as she turned to face the girl.

It was this look that made Danielle realize that this ghost really was bad news. But the worst was yet to come. The floating ghost-woman threw her cape back and revealed the rest of her body. It was covered in tattoos wherever her green skin was exposed. The animal shaped tattoos were disturbing enough to look at, but then they suddenly seemed to just float off her skin, slowly circling around their master. Then they suddenly stopped and zoomed right at the teenage ghost-girl with individual malevolent cries and ghastly wails.

Danielle tried to dodge them, but they joined together into one force and came at her at bullet speed, hittingt the girl right off her feet and against the cave wall.

Well, this was definitely a ghost-power she had never seen before. The young hybrid rubbed the back of her head where it had hit the wall and looked up to see the united force coming around for another attack. This time though, she was able to dodged-roll out of the way.

Danielle noticed how the cloaked woman was moving her hands with gestures as if directing where her animal-shaped tattoos went. So the female hybrid came to the conclusion that if she could defeat the ghost who _led_ the army of mobile animal marks, they would withdraw. But as the teenager dodged some more unified attempts to strike her, the teen-ghost wondered how she was supposed to do that without the full use of her _own_ ghost powers. She didn't want to let the cloaked ghost know she had them, especially since they couldn't function properly at the moment. That would only make the situation worse.

While Danielle tried to think of a different way to do this, the tattoos split into their individual animal shapes and started to come at the ghostly girl from all angles. She cried out in surprise of the sudden change of tactics but she continued dodging. Her ghost powers may have been gone for now, but her reflexes were still just as sharp. Whichever flying fiends she couldn't dodge in time, she was able to beat back herself with some martial arts maneuvers, enhanced with small and concealed enough, ecto-charges to help make her strikes more effective against the ectoplasmic entities.

Consequently though, in directing her full attention on the little specters, she forgot her focus on the thing that sent them after her. The ghost-woman flew at the girl while she was busy with her little minions.

The green skinned woman hit her with a solid, karate-kick. Danielle fell to the floor of the cave, losing her focus, and the tattoos suddenly swarmed around her again with the distant sounding cries of horror that they kept releasing.

They began flying in a circle around the defective hybrid on the ground, going faster and faster, trapping her in a sort of twister that began to shrink and close in around the girl. She covered her ears as the terrible screams from the flying green masses got louder and more dreadful.

If Danielle could fly, she would be able to just float up and out from the top of her prison, or if she could go intangible, she could phase through the ground and escape. But though she tried both powers right then, she couldn't use either one at all. She couldn't do anything. She was trapped and the whirlwind of fiendish servants of the cloaked ghost as the confinement they made around her continued to reduce in diameter, their malevolent sounds rising still.

Soon after, they began sweeping in for individual attacks from unexpected places in the wall of moving specters. They came in faster and more frequently, hurting the girl who was unable to defend herself from the oncoming blows from an incredibly short distance. They continued to swarm around her like hornets, making the teen have no choice but to recoil from the stings she was starting to feel all over her young figure.

She started crying out as the pain the attacks resulted in began to overwhelm her and the sounds the individual animal shapes made became completely unbearable. She rolled onto her side, cringing and trying to block out the terrible noise by holding her hands to her ears even harder, but it didn't stop them from coming at her even faster and more consistently from all angles.

The incessant stings covering the clone girl's body reminded her of being melted down, back in Plasmius's lab. She really never liked to visit that memory and now she was practically reliving it.

The ghost responsible for the nonstop agony had touched down on the ground, standing over her fallen foe with an evil look of victory in her glowing, red eyes.

Suddenly, above the sound of the horrible cries the green pests were emitting, came a very clear and long howl, coming from outside that echoed throughout the whole cave. Both of the ghosts looked up at the same time to see Wulf suddenly spring into the cave and pounce on the red-cloaked woman who screamed like a banshee in fright at the surprise attack.

Danielle could barely see this happening through the thick swarm she was still ensnared in but Wulf, having his friend's ghostly enemy pinned now, raised one of his front paws and his emerald claws unexpectedly grew to at least three or four times their starting length.

The constant stings Danielle was feeling suddenly ceased. The girl looked up to see the green animal shapes fly at Wulf and force him off of their owner. Now they started swarming around the giant dog's massive form, but Wulf just growled, and letting out a loud and vicious roar, he began lashing out at the annoying things, swatting them off him, like flies and snapping his powerful jaws at the rest. Danielle stared wide-eyed as he fought the diminutive irritations with carnivorous rage. Whichever ones that got powerful slashes through them with his claws, or got trapped in his teeth when he clamped his mouth shut again, instantly vanished. Danielle noticed that the tattoos started reappearing on the ghost-woman's green skin as they disappeared from around Wulf.

The cloaked woman seemed to get nervous after the ferocious dog beat down the majority of her little pets. There were only a few left now and Wulf turned his attention to the cloaked ghost who took a few steps back in fear.

Danielle quickly snapped out of her shock of seeing Wulf's fierceness in seeing her own opportunity. Springing quickly from the ground, she shouldered the red-cloaked ghost from the back. The ghost stumbled forward a few steps and just as she turned around to see behind her, where the unexpected attack came from, the ghost girl ran up to her again, making her stumble back further with a push-kick to the stomach. The tattooed ghost, holding her stomach, did as Danielle had predicted and while the cloaked woman was nearly off balance, The teenage hybrid rushed at her yet again. She grabbed the woman's green, tattooed arm as she passed to the other side of her and used the momentum to swing the ghost around and throw with all the strength her human form could muster, right her over her own head, straight at Wulf.

As the green, tattooed woman uncontrollably flew passed the scruffy animal-ghost, he caught her by her blood-red cape at the collar and shook her wildly, as if she was some puppy's chew toy. With a final swing, the huge doglike ghost released the blood-red cloth from his teeth, causing the ghost it belonged to, to go flying far out of the cave.

It wasn't until she was some distance away from the cave mouth that the cloaked woman was able to make a midair recovery but still looked quite alarmed by the black creature, who hurried to the cave mouth and growled ferociously at her, bearing his enormous teeth.

After he let out another howl, this time as if in warning, the woman recalled the remainder of her little flying minions, which clung back onto her green body. As soon as they returned, the red-cloaked woman bolted off at a surprisingly high speed.

"Boy am I glad you're on _my_ side" Danielle said, still a bit surprised by Wulf's display of sudden ferocity during the fight.

Still growling after the fleeing ghost, Wulf retracted his claws and walked back into the cave. Despite the shock from the great dog's vicious battle with the tattooed ghost, he looked back at the teenage girl with the eyes of concern that he had shown her the night before. Danielle doubts faded away, in seeing this expression. "That was so cool!" She said with a laugh, as Wulf came over to where she stood. "You and Danny must have made a pretty good team in the battles you had together." Wulf smiled as if flattered.

Then, he began sniffing her from the top. Danielle ducked her head in her hands when he sniffed her hair, messing it up and making it go in different directions. She laughed a bit as the sniffing sort of tickled her. As his muzzle made its way down to her hands. For some reason, when he reached this point he made a sad whimpering noise and licked the top of on of the hands. Wondering what was wrong, the teen looked at the one he just licked and was surprised to see that it had a few small cuts on it. She looked at her other hand and it was in the same state. She then felt her face and when she withdrew her hands from it, she saw some blood that came from another cut on her cheek.

With a sigh, the girl then remembered the 'tattoo torture chamber' she had been trapped in before Wulf showed up. As she looked down at the rest of her body she found that her cloths were quite untidy but they didn't seem to be damaged. None of the cuts seemed to be that bad either. Some of the individual pests probably just got lucky enough to make a few red marks on her human flesh. She was sure that they wouldn't even leave a mark.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm okay," She told Wulf, when he looked up at her with those same concerned eyes. "Thanks." She added, and then Wulf gave her a smile and another friendly lick on her face.

He then turned around, walking back towards the cave entrance. The massive dog bent his head over the edge of the rocky face as if picking something up from the ledge below that Danielle had noticed was there before. His head came back up with a small bundle in his teeth. The cloth, whatever was inside, was being carried in, looked like it could have been a pillowcase.

Confused, Danielle looked over where the blanket was and then back at the pillowcase. _Where did he get those anyway_? She wondered in her head.

Wulf made his way to where the pile of wood was with the pillowcase and set it down in the place Danielle had slept. "What's in that, Wulf?" She inquired as she walked over to where he put the bundle. Wulf backed away a few steps as she knelt down by the bundle and opened up the pillowcase wrapping. There was some fruit inside. "So you _had_ been out hunting." She said with a laugh and reaching in for an apple, now realizing how hungry she was. "Thanks," Wulf smiled with glee, in response.

After pulling a few other choice fruits from the pillowcase, Danielle went out on the ledge to wash them in the spray of the waterfall. When she hoisted herself back into the cave, she saw Wulf with his snout buried in the pillowcase and covering his eyesight. He must have been trying to get at the rest of the fruit that was inside it. Danielle couldn't help but laugh as he shook his head around trying to get it off. It made her think of a curious puppy that had accidentally gotten its nose into something it shouldn't have.

Setting her own fruit aside, the young ghost teen went over to help her new animal-friend get the pillowcase off. She only had to tug a little for it to slip off his muzzle. He was chewing on what he was able to get out of the small bag by the time it was removed. Danielle noticed from the weight of it, that it was actually empty now. "Wow, and I thought _I_ was hungry." She chuckled and tossed the pillowcase aside towards her sleeping place.

She then walked back to the cave mouth where she left her own fruit and sat down on the edge of the floor of it. Looking out at the thick mass of trees that made up the wood, she took a bite out of the apple. Wulf soon came over and sat down beside her. "You've got a great view here, Wulf." She said to him.

As she looked out over the treetops, eating the apple, she started to think back on the battle with the tattooed ghost. Well, _Wulf_ lived in these woods. Were there others that did too? Were these woods haunted? The ghost-hybrid didn't think so. She was sure she would have run into a few ghosts last night while she was flying over the woods if they were haunted. So then what was the cloaked ghost doing there. What business would it have in woods that had ghost-hunters hiding in them? If that ghost also lived in the woods, she would have fled downward towards the trees.

The girl finished her apple and was about to set the core down next to her when she noticed Wulf staring at it. Thinking he may be wanting it, Danielle had a little thought.

She threw the core up high in the air in his direction and Wulf caught it in his mouth like a normal, trained dog would for a biscuit. It was quite intriguing to see this fearsome looking beast, who could also fight so viciously, could also have the same playful behavior of a house pup. Not to mention also have some human resemblances like being able to stand on two legs and speak a native language as well as a small bit of English.

Danielle looked back out at the view, redirecting her ponderings to the battle with the ghost, when she noticed, a distance beyond the woods, there was a town a little to the right, "Hey you can see Amity Park from here." She commented.

After the comment Danielle's thoughts wandered back to the battle. She was just thinking of the look of terror on the ghosts face when she flew off…when suddenly the notion struck her. "Wait a minute. Amity Park." She stood up, as she starting fitting the rest of the pieces together in her head. "That was the direction that ghost flew off in." Wulf looked down at her. Even if he didn't understand all of what she was saying, it looked like he still understood well enough that something might be wrong.

Danielle may not have known where Danny was living now but she _did_ know that Amity Park was the place he was still going to most frequently to fight ghosts. Why would any ghost speed off to seek refuge there when Danny Phantom would more than likely be there as well? That couldn't be right at all. What if something happened to Danny to make the ghosts think that Amity Park, of all places, could be a safe haven for them now.

"Wulf, we have to get over there and check it out." She said turning to him. "Danny may need our help." Wulf stood up looking out towards the city.

"Oh, but I still can't fly!" Danielle said, slapping her hands on her head in frustration. "How am I supposed to get there fast enough if I can't even…Whoa!" Danielle was stopped from finishing her sentence in suddenly getting scooped up and raised above the ground. Wulf had picked her up with one of his massive clawed paws and raised her up for her to get onto his back. "Or…that'll work too."

She climbed up on the dog who had crouched down on all fours for her. After straddling herself behind his shoulders she wrapped her arms around the furry neck of the ghost, giving him a hug. "You're the best, Wulf." After saying this, she looked behind her to see Wulf's tail wagging.

She then bent down over the great dog's back, clinging to his green, hood. With that, Wulf jumped from the cave mouth and slid the rest of the way down the rocky face of the mountain with the young girl holding on as tight as she could. Wulf soon made contact with the forest floor and started running on all fours through the woods towards Amity Park.

Danielle knew full well that she probably wouldn't be able to do much without her ghost-powers fully functional, but she at least had to see what the problem might be. Still, if something _was_ terribly wrong, she would be able to figure it out with the help of her _cousin's_ old, and _her_ new, friend.

**_(I know I'm usually a bit better in describing the look of the characters, but trying to describe Lydia's outfit kind of gave me the creeps. Sorry.)_**

**_Okay so that's the first part leading up to the chapter I had thought of first before beginning the writing of this story. My next chapter may take a bit longer, but I do already have some of the basic ideas. Once I start writing it, I'm sure it will start coming together. It did for this one._**


	5. Ghost Town

_**All right. I'm a little concerned about this one, but I'm still trying to smooth out a few rough edges on the next chapter that I'm working on even now. Hopefully, despite the shortened length, this chapter will still receive a good response from you, readers.**_

**Chapter 5: Ghost Town**

Wulf sped through the woods on all fours as Danielle held on, looking over the top of the giant dog's head. Even though the trees were quite thick, Wulf maneuvered through them as if he knew the whole forest by heart. (Which he probably did.) Any space he might not have been able to squeeze through, he simply turned himself, and his rider, intangible to run straight on without stalling.

Gradually, the woods began to thin out and Danielle was able to see Amity Park beyond the trees. The two came out of the woods with a giant leap and as soon as Wulf's feet came back into contact with the ground, he continued his way onward towards the town, just as speedily as ever.

There was a wide stretch of empty plains between the woods and the town that perhaps stretched for a few miles. Still, with the speed Wulf was racing at, in the range of perhaps five to ten minutes, he and the ghost-girl riding on his back reached a hill. Over which Amity Park lay beyond. Wulf slowed to a stop as they reached the top of the rise, where they could overlook the city.

As Danielle took in the view of her cousin's hometown below, she gaped in scared surprise. The town seemed grayer and less lively than the last time she remembered it. As her eyes continued to scan the town below and she began to feel emotions of sorrow and apprehension rising. Even from this distance, she could see smoke coming up out of a few places.

"Gee, it didn't look this bad from the woods." Danielle said to Wulf. "If it looks like this from afar, I can't imagine what it might look like on the streets." The young girl began to worry as she thought of her cousin, hoping he was all right.

"Come on." She said to her friendly mount. "We better get down there and see if we can find Danny. Or maybe one of his friends." Wulf nodded in response, and started his way down the hill towards the town.

The ghost dog turned the both of them invisible as they drew nearer to the cluster of buildings. At first though, it seemed that they didn't need to. Hardly anyone seemed to be around as Wulf entered the streets, sniffing the air as he went.

The girl on his back knew it wasn't _that_ early in the morning. The streets should be much busier by this time. Very few cars were going along the road now and anyone who _was_ walking outside seemed to be always glancing around, especially up at the sky, as if nervous about something.

Danielle noticed one man in particular, who seemed to be just a regular guy on his way to work (judging by the suit he wore and the briefcase he carried). He was constantly looking over his shoulder as if fearing something would jump out at him any time. No sooner after Danielle was just thinking this than she unexpectedly jumped in seeing a floating green mass phase through the sidewalk, right in front of the suited man: An attacking ghost. It hovered in front of him as the man froze on the spot in fright.

At that precise moment, Danielle noticed her own elevation above the ground became less and less. Wulf, still invisible, must have been bending down. But why? What was he doing?

The young hybrid clone looked up again, and saw that the floating green specter was starting to hover closer to the man. When he suddenly started running in the opposite direction, the ghost glided after him with mischievous cackles.

When this happened, the ghost-girl felt the surface she was on suddenly tip to the side. She had unknowingly loosened her grip on Wulf's overcoat in watching the scene, so she slipped off of the still invisible, ghost's back. Before she hit the ground though, she felt something catch her and set her down lightly on the concrete of the road. She looked down at her feet to see them reappear as Wulf's unseen but reliable paw released her.

The next thing she knew, Wulf himself had become visible again, and bearing his teeth, he bolted after the ghost and the man running from it.

"Wulf, wait!" Danielle shouted behind him and began to run after him.

Wulf soon passed the chase-scene and slid to a stop in front of the man, scaring him and making him stumble backwards. The man seemed to be more terrified of Wulf than the ghost who was chasing him (which also stopped at the sight of Wulf). The man raised his briefcase in front of his head, as if afraid that Wulf might hurt him, but instead, the giant dog sprung right over the alarmed man and at the ghost behind him.

Danielle had just gotten there to assist the man in the suit when Wulf growled at the floating green mass, extending his claws like how he did when he fought the tattooed ghost. At the sight of the claws, the ghost let out a scream of fright and took off, phasing through a nearby building.

It was a store of some kind and just as the ghost disappeared behind the display glass, Danielle heard more peoples' panicking cries. Some of them even came running out the shop: Apparently in terror of the ghost who was fleeing for refuge from the humongous black dog.

When the horrified screams of the store-crowd faded, the teen girl turned back to the man on the ground. "Are you okay, sir?"

The man was shaking and he stuttered a bit with his words. "W-w-where'd that m-mo-monster go?"

"Uh…in the store." The girl told him confused, but offering a hand to help him up. Why was he asking where the ghost went? He saw it when it flew off.

"Not that one." The man responded, taking her hand. "The big _hairy_ one." He added as he was pulled to his feet and dusted himself off. Danielle then realized that he must have been meaning Wulf. In fact, when the girl looked around for him, she couldn't see the green clothed animal anywhere.

"Wulf?" she called, looking around, confused.

"What?" The man must not have caught what she said. Thank goodness.

"Oh…um…nevermind." The teenage girl quickly covered her mistake at calling out to the thing the man had been most petrified of. Though she _did_ wonder where Wulf had gone…until she felt the rush of air of something unseen breathing next to her on her left. Wulf had turned invisible again and was standing beside the teen ghost.

Trying not to show this, the young hybrid cleared her throat and spoke to the man again. "But, are you all right, sir?"

"Oh…well, yes. Yes, I'm fine." The man told her, straightening up. "Thank you for your concern." He nodded his head at her. but then he looked at her funny and started glancing up and down the street with a confused expression. "But wait a minute. Where are your parents?" He asked, looking back down at her.

"Huh?" Danielle hesitated. Not answering and looking to the side uncertainly. She didn't have parents. But she couldn't just tell that to a total stranger, because then she would have to explain the reason why. The only person she ever considered as any parent, however temporary, was Vlad Plasmius.

"No child should be wandering the streets alone these days. It's not safe with all these ghosts about." The man told her when she didn't answer.

Danielle was about to argue that she _wasn't_ a child and that she could in fact take good care of herself, even in worse situations, but then she thought better of it, and simply responded to avoid a complicated conversation that she wouldn't have time for, "Yeah, you're right, sir."

The man nodded at her again in approval and then started walking down the sidewalk again as if the ghost attack had never happened but still looking warily around just the same. "But, sir, I'm sure Danny Phantom is taking care of the problem right now." Danielle called behind him, almost wanting to reassure him that there was nothing to be afraid of.

The man turned to face her again and to her bewilderment, he just scoffed, shaking his head. "Young lady, there wouldn't _be_ a problem in this town if that were the case."

The teenage girl blinked, taken aback by the response as the suited stranger started back on his way. Danielle watched blankly as he turned a corner and out of sight.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" She said aloud as Wulf reappeared out of his invisible state next to her. She looked up at Wulf who just shrugged his broad and hairy shoulders in listening to Danielle's and the man's conversation. This made Danielle start to ponder on what the man had just said. Before she could get a proper train of thought going however, her ghost-sense went off. In the same moment, the ghost and hybrid alike heard another disturbance nearby and ran in its direction.

Danielle turned a corner that led to an alleyway with Wulf right behind her. As they did, they saw two more ghosts chasing a group of three teenage boys up the alley in their direction. The boys rushed passed the ghost-girl and her doglike friend, crying out for help.

Wulf sprang into the alley at the oncoming ghosts, out of sight of the boys who were running from them and he pounced on one of them.

The boys had stopped running to look behind them, seeing that the teenage girl wasn't fleeing herself. "Hey, girly! Run for it!" The nearest one called out.

Danielle looked back down the alley and realized the second ghost had bypassed Wulf and was coming at her, but she stood her ground. With the limited power she could use, she clenched her fists and secretly charged up some green energy: small enough to be hidden from the panicking boys, but strong enough that it would have a significant effect on the ghost.

The girl-hybrid dodged out of the way of the ghost's aerial-attack and as it passed her, she grabbed it by the tail with her charged up hands, then slammed it to the concrete surface of the street.

The boys, in seeing the girl's action, stood gaping her wide-eyed. The green malefactor she had brought down seemed just as surprised as the boys were.

Danielle walked up to the ectoplasmic entity she had just grounded and pressed her foot on it. A concealed charge of green energy was emitting from her foot to help keep the ghost in place.

The ghost looked up at her in anger as it struggled for release. Its hybrid foe only looked back down at him with a deadly glare from the glowing, bright-green eyes of her ghostly form.

When the ghost noticed her eyes, its expression suddenly became fearful in recognizing a well-known enemy of all unfriendly ghosts looking out through the eyes of this young girl. It swiftly went intangible and disappeared through the gravel of the street with no intention of coming back.

Danielle looked at the gravel where the ghost had disappeared, confused at what had just happened, before her eyes faded back to the human's clear blue. Nevertheless, she then looked up at the boys who were still staring at her, open mouthed. "_Don't_ call me 'girly'." She simply said, putting a hand on her hip and frowning at them.

"Yes, ma'am." The first boy said, now smiling at her, flirtatiously. Danielle cocked an eyebrow at him. "By they way, just what would a cutie like _you_ be doing out on the streets of this haunted town by herself?" He asked her, taking a few steps towards the girl.

"Obviously, not looking for any protection from _you_. Seeing as I just scared off the thing you were so afraid of. Can you tell me where the mayor of this town resides?"

"And yet you seek directions from us?" One of the other boys said, also sounding like he was hitting on the ghost-girl.

The hybrid rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head. "Nevermind." she said, annoyed and started walking away.

The boys started to follow her calling out to her with things like,

"Hey, wait up."

"Don't we get a name?"

"Didn't you ask us something?"

"Don't you know it's rude to go walking away after asking someone a question?"

Danielle spun back around, giving the boys a warning look. But she didn't need to because Wulf had just returned from his business with the other ghost in the alley.

The boys stopped dead in their tracks at the mere sight of him. Danielle, after a glance at Wulf behind her, looked back at the boys, smiling mischievously. Wulf suddenly let out a single, dog-like bark at the three boys, who then high-tailed out of sight, screaming as they went.

The young ghost teen giggled as she watched them run for it, and thanked her friend with a pat on the muzzle.

Thinking back on the battle, the ghost teen had taken note that she was able to hold the ecto-charges for much longer this time. Even though when she made the charges, she felt she was straining it a bit. It would probably still be a while before she could release a fully, powered up plasma-ray, but she still seemed to be doing all right without that ability, for now.

The girl-reflection of Danny still didn't have the information she wanted, though. She was hoping to get directions of where the Foley or the Manson residence was. Maybe even City Hall. Perhaps the next person she ran into would be able to give her such input. So, with her furry ghost-counterpart at her side, the ghost hybrid continued down the street.

As the two ghost friends strolled their way down the sidewalk of Amity Park, Wulf's ears perked up as if listening to something, and in the ghostly teen's next exhale, the icy breath of her ghost-sense came forth from her mouth again. Another one? When she noticed the black-furred creature looking up towards the sky, Danielle did the same.

Far above them, she saw yet another ghost flying over the city without a care in the world, as if it practically owned the place. That was now the fourth ghost she had seen. All of these appearances happened within just a few minutes of each other, too. And not once during any of these, did Danny Phantom show up. Was this what that man meant? Were all these ghosts around because he was right about Danny not doing his job? Where _was_ Danny?

A chilling breeze rustled the girl's ebony hair as she started to worry that her fears she had gotten back at the cave looked to be confirming themselves. Danny would never willingly abandon his own town. Something must have gone terribly wrong. But what?

After a minute or two later of walking, the teenager felt something on her leg, near her foot. She stopped in mid-step and looked down to see that it was a piece of paper that the wind must have blown into her. It looked like some sort of torn up, newspaper clipping. Curious, the cousin of the ghost-hero bent down and picked it up.

She smoothed out any wrinkles it had, and after just a glance at the torn up piece of newspaper, she realized that on it, was a photographed picture of Danny's friend, Sam. "Missing?" Danielle said aloud. Wulf peaked over the ghost-girl's shoulder as she began to read.

_Samantha Manson, (age 18) was last seen_

_while attending a normal day of school on_

_Tuesday, February 5__th__ at Casper High._

_Around 11:20am that day, a female ghost,_

_cloaked in red, attacked the school's halls._

_Fellow students watched, horrified, as the_

_ghost took the teenage girl captive,_

_escaping by phasing through the ceiling of_

_the high school with her. None of the_

_witnessing students seemed to know where_

_the ghost had taken thier fellow schoolmate, or_

_in which direction it had fled with her, but city_

_authorities are making their best efforts in…_

The rest of the article had been ripped off, but it had already revealed quite a bit of information to the ghost-hybrid who had read it. "Sam's been kidnapped?" Danielle whispered.

She looked back at the article, where it said, _February 5__th_. "That was weeks ago!" She said, looking at Wulf. He seemed to understand this well enough because he was also looking concerned. Danielle continued skimming over the clipping, for another part she remembered reading. "_A female ghost, cloaked in red._" She recited aloud. "That must be the same ghost who came snooping around the cave. I _knew_ she might have been up to something." She thought out load to her doglike friend.

Before another thought entered the girl's mind, she heard the sound of shattering glass up ahead. The two ghost companions looked up at the noise. "Oh, great." The teenage girl, groaned in frustration. "Must be another ghost-attack." After she finished saying this, Wulf, bearing his large teeth again, leapt off in that general direction.

Tucking the torn-out newspaper clipping in her hooded-shirt pocket, the female hybrid sprinted off after Wulf. As she ran, the words of the article she had just read kept running through her mind.

This was definitely not good. Amity Park seemed to have become a chaotic playground for ghosts, and Danielle just found out that one of Danny's best friends was captured by one of these flying reprobates, almost a month before. And somehow, the teenage clone of the famed ghost-fighter had a feeling that the _worst_ news of this town's recent events was yet to come.

_**Okay, I'm hoping this chapter was as good as the other ones the readers have claimed to be. I know it's shorter than most of the other chapter's I've already written, but I hope it still helps in setting up what I'm planning will happen next. Plus, this seemed to be a good place to end a chapter called Ghost Town, which I thought was a good way of introducing the current state Amity Park is in right now. **_


	6. Amity Park's Worst

**_--(drum roll__)—__Now we get to the chapter where you find out what's happened in Amity Park in the clone girl's absence. And you'll find that Dani's about to run into another old acquaintance of her cousin's. __To all of you readers out there: I'd like to extend my appreciation for all the great comments you've been giving. It really keeps me going to know that people out there really like what I've written so far and that you look forward to future chapters. Again thanks. Here's chapter 6._**

**Chapter 6: Amity Park's Worst**

Wulf had reached the corner first, around which the commotion was taking place. The street was full of people who were panicking to get far way from an airborne battle, which was only a little ways down the street. People who saw Wulf started screaming even more and ran off in a different direction. Danielle simply shrugged up at her furry friend when this happened.

Looking passed the people who were evacuating the scene, the ghost-girl could see a green shape of yet another attacking ghost. This one was quite a bit bigger than the other ones she had already seen. She watched as it zoomed around, avoiding the dangerous looking blasts of someone in a red-and-black, technological looking suit, flying on a cool looking glider that seemed to be shaped like a surfboard from afar.

Danielle and Wulf quickly ran towards the mid-flight battle. As they stopped, almost directly underneath where the fight in the sky was, Danielle observed the person fighting the ghost. She started to wonder who it might be when she squinted up at the figure, and started to think that it actually look kind of familiar.

Wulf suddenly left the girl's side and started scaling one of the tall buildings. "Wha…? Wulf, what are you doing?" She called after him when he was already half way up its brick wall.

Looking back at the two flying objects that were really going at it, the ghost-girl started to rack her brains, trying to think of where she had possibly seen that red and black suit before. She could have sworn it was back during her last visit to Amity Park, but she still couldn't put her finger on it.

The female hybrid watched as the ghost dodged another attack from the red and black figure and made a dive at it. It hit the surfboard-like flying machine and Danielle dodged out of the way as a piece of the glider fell and bounced on the pavement of the road. The driver lost control of the damaged means of transportation and struggled with it as it started to carry them down into a crash-landing.

The route of the crash went passed the young teenage ghost and just before the glider hit the pavement, the suited person jumped off and rolled in making contact with the concrete road, skidding to a halt, right on the back. The glider broke when it collided with the ground and its pieces went flying all over the place.

The half-ghost teen rushed over to lend a hand, as the figure shook its helmeted head, rubbing it. Otherwise, the armored rider seemed to be al right. As Danielle got closer, she realized that the suited-up person was a girl, probably in her late teens. When the teen hybrid was only a few feet away from her, she was able to see through the transparent face-shield of the helmet and see the face behind it. The ghost-teen looked at her, wide-eyed as she suddenly realized that she _did_ know this person.

"Valerie?" She said, with a bit of surprise in her voice.

The armored girl looked up in hearing her name and when she saw the hooded-shirt girl in front of her, she looked confused. "Um. Do I know you?"

"Don't you recognize me? I'm…"

But before Danielle could finished her sentence, Valerie looked up, behind the girl with a panicked expression, "Look out!" she shouted, pointing behind her.

The half-ghost teenager spun around to see the ghost that was causing all the ruckus diving in for another attack towards the two girls. Just as its dive came level to the tops of the buildings, lining the street, out of the blue, came Wulf who jumped from the rooftop of the building he had just climbed up, right at the airborne ghost.

The giant dog tackled the specter, bringing it all the way to the ground, trapping it under his big and hairy front paws. Pinning it to the sidewalk underneath them.

The ghost went intangible, escaping from the beast's grasp and started zooming at the ghost-girl and the eighteen-year-old ghost-hunter. But before it reached them, Wulf pounced on it from behind, stopping it three feet short of the girls. Wulf then picked the ghost up and swung it around, building momentum and then flung it at one of the brick buildings that lined the side of the road.

The ghost recovered from this blow and faced Wulf who growled at it. The ghost-dog pounced at it again, this time giving it a few good slashes with his extended claws. The ghost was slammed to the ground by the end of the last. But before Wulf landed another blow, the green specter went intangible, avoiding getting hit by the massive dog and headed right at the two girls again. When Wulf tried to stop it, the ghost slipped through his green claws and the ghost sped toward the teenagers, cackling.

Danielle jumped in front of Valerie and her eyes began to glow green as she built her ghostly power up as much as she could before it got to the point that it would fizzle out on her. At the sight of the young girl's eyes, the attacking ghost suddenly stopped in mid-flight, just a foot away from her face.

The ghost-girl was surprised at the rapid halt but she maintained her composure and continued her powerful glare. Like the other ghost she had managed to beat down, this one's dread that it usually filled _other_ people with, backfired on it. In the next minute, it shot off, screaming, towards the sky and away from Amity Park.

Danielle powered down and scratched her head in confusion. That was the second time that's happened. She had the appearance of a normal human. What about her was frightening the ghosts?

After seeing the ghost fly out of sight, Wulf retracted his claws and started walking towards the two girls. Danielle smiled at him as he approached until she heard a humming from behind her that gradually became higher pitched.

"Back off, ghost," said Valerie's voice, behind her.

The teenage hybrid spun around. Valerie had the ecto-blaster she had on her arm powered up and was taking aim at the frightful looking beast. Taking the threat seriously, the giant dog tensed up, readying himself, and bearing his huge teeth at the suited ghost-hunter.

Seeing what was happening, Danielle rushed between the two, facing Valerie and extending her arms out, blocking the armored teenager's aim at the her doglike friend. "No, Valerie. Don't!" the ghost-girl cried out, as she did this.

"Get out of the way, kid. That thing's dangerous."

"Um…yeah! Dangerous to that ghost who was trying to clobber us." Danielle stated to Valerie as if it was obvious. Wulf let out a series of vicious growls behind her at Valerie and the half-ghost teen tried to calm him with a gentle hand. "And to _you_ if you don't put that down." She added, pointing at the raised blaster.

"Are you blind or something? Look at it. That dog-monster behind you is a ghost."

Danielle stared at the opposing girl blankly for a second, and then she scoffed, shaking her head. "Man. Even after helping to save _me,_ you _still_ think that all ghosts are the same, don't you?" she said, putting her hands on her hips. "You're just as stubborn as ever."

Valerie's expression became perplexed, but she still kept her blaster-arm up. "What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Okay, seriously Valerie. I know it's been a couple years, but have you _really_ forgotten all about me?" Danielle question, giving the eighteen-year-old a skeptical look.

The ghost-hunting girl shifted her eyes to the side for a second. Her confusion still building up. "Uh…if I'm supposed to _know_ you from somewhere, yeah I guess I have." She stated, a hit hesitantly at first.

"Okay, then I'll give you a hint." Danielle said. Then, thinking back on a certain memory the ghost-teen remembered quite clearly, she took on the very same expression of surprise and quoted what Valerie had said to _her_ when they first met. "You're…you're a girl? _And_ a ghost?" Danielle mimicked, rather sarcastically, but still recognizable.

When Danielle's expression changed back to her own smile, a spark definitely ignited in Valerie. "Here's another one." The ghostly teen said, continuing to impersonate. "_Help me, I'm melting_." Valerie had probably already gotten the message from the first impression, but the teenage hybrid was having fun with her.

The red and black suited ghost-hunter lowered her ecto-blaster just a bit as the realization came to her. "Wait." She paused. "Phantom? The _girl,_ Dani Phantom, with an I?"

"Duh!" Danielle remarked loudly, throwing her hands out on either side of her, as if presenting herself. Despite the late recognition though, a very broad grin crossed the ghost girl's face.

Valerie, smiling in disbelief, finally lowered her ecto-blaster the rest of the way, looking the girl up and down. "Wow. It really _has_ been two years. You certainly _look_ different."

"I _must_, if it took you _that_ long to remember." Danielle commented.

Valerie let out a small, guilty laugh. Then she looked up at Wulf who stood up to his full height on his hind legs. "So, then…uh...who's the big, freaky one?" she asked the ghost-girl, a bit nervously.

"Hey. Considering he just stopped that ghost from coming at us, _twice_, the _least_ you could do is give him a 'thank you.'" Danielle responded, defending her ghost companion.

Valerie stared up at the beast, still looking rather uncertain.

The silence was, just then, broken by some crackling noises. Valerie looked to see that it came from a big piece of her destroyed glider that sparked spontaneously in the places where it had broken off. She went over and knelt down next to it, picking it up. Danielle came up behind her, bending down and putting her hands on her knees. "Ah, man. I'm sorry." She said, looking at the wrecked glider from over the ghost-hunter's shoulder.

"Oh, don't worry, Dani. It's not serious."

"Not serious?" Danielle responded in disbelief. "That thing's busted in…" But before she finished, Valerie pressed a button on the piece of the glider and it started to hover on it's own. After a second of stillness, it flew around the street where its missing pieces had been scattered in the crash. As the mobile piece of medal passed its stray parts, they reattached themselves to the appropriate places like magnets until the glider was whole again and looked as good as new.

It flew back over to Valerie who stood it up, vertically beside her. "Not anymore." she said with a smile.

"Wow." The teen hybrid was impressed. "Didn't know it could do _that_."

"Neither did _I_, until recently."

Just as Valerie tucked the flying machine under her arm, Danielle's ghost sense went off again. The three heard a creepy cackle from a smaller ghost, that was gliding passed the street intersection that Danielle and her dog-like friend had just come from.

Valerie moaned in disappointed aggravation and stepped onto her glider. "Hang on, a minute." She said to Danielle and rocketed off on the newly repaired flying machine, turning the corner in pursuit of the small ghost.

Danielle sped after her, followed closely behind, by Wulf. They turned the corner just in time to see the ghost-hunter suck the little ghost into some sort of access gadget she had gotten from her utility belt.

"Valerie, what's going on here?" The teenage hybrid asked in frustration at seeing another ghost. "Wulf and I barely got into town about ten minutes ago and that's the sixth ghost we've seen already."

Valarie looked down from her glider, scoffing "That's nothing. There's a lot more ghosts here than anyone can count. Even with their shoes off."

"Yeah. I kind of figured." Danielle said. "But why isn't Danny helping? And what's going on with _this_?" While saying this last part, Danielle pulled the newspaper clipping about Sam from her pocket and faced the photograph towards the ghost-hunter. Valerie glided downward till she could bend down from the flying surfboard and take the torn-up article from the ghost-girl's hand.

"Oh…yeah. That." Was all she said after taking a second to look at the newspaper clipping. "But…didn't you know?" she asked the teen hybrid, looking up from the article. "I mean…Danny _is_ your cousin, right?"

"Well, I haven't exactly been able to keep in touch with him since I left." Danielle shrugged, excusably.

Valerie exhaled solemnly and lowered the piece of the article, letting it hang loosely at her side. "Come with me." She finally said and rose a bit higher into the air on her glider. "I'll tell you everything at _my_ place."

The ghostly teen went over to Wulf who bent down on all fours so she could climb up onto his back, as before. When she had herself securely straddled onto him, she looked up at Valerie, waiting for her to take the lead. But she was just staring down at her with a puzzled look. "Um…aren't you just gonna fly?"

Remembering that the ghost-hunter didn't know that she couldn't even use her powers right now, the ghost-powered teen said, "I, kind of…can't right now." Valerie was probably about to ask why not, when the ghost hybrid quickly added. "It's a long story that we do_ not _have time for if the situation is as serious as I think it is."

With that said, Valerie ascended higher into the air on her glider and when it rocketed forward, Wulf followed from the ground. The glider was fast, but Wulf was already a good runner. Not to mention the fact that he was a ghost and could simply phase through any building that was within his direct route.

It was only a short time before Danielle saw Valerie begin to descend towards the ground, up ahead. By the time she and Wulf had caught up with her, the suited ghost-hunter had touched down at a house that was in a very nice neighborhood of the city.

Since Valerie's father had gotten back into business in Axion Labs, he eventually got to move them into a much nicer place than the run-down apartment they had to live in after going broke.

Danielle dismounted Wulf when they got to the driveway of the house. Valerie pressed a few buttons on the keypad in the arm of her suit and then the suit itself, to the ghost-girl's surprise, seemed to disassemble itself into much smaller, metallic pieces that rotated around its wearer's figure a few rounds before disappearing into the yellow and orange bracelets on her wrists and ankles.

"Didn't know you could do _that_ either." Danielle commented when the last of the small pieces vanished into the ordinary looking jewelry.

"First time for everything, isn't there?" Valerie put in, with a smile.

Danielle started looking at this new appearance. With the suit on, Valerie was a skilled ghost-fighter that had once behaved like there was no heart under the metallic armor. But this African-American girl with curly, dark hair, that existed underneath the ghost-fighting apparel was actually quite nice looking. It was a bit hard to believe that such a sweet looking girl could have once been an enemy of Danny Phantom before he had revealed his greatest secret.

When Valerie caught Danielle observing the sleeveless yellow top and orange skirt and headband she was wearing, she asked, looking embarrassed, "Now what?"

"Oh, nothing." The girl-clone said apologetically, realizing she had been staring. "I've just never seen you out of the suit before."

Valerie shrugged, "I rest my case."

She led the ghost-teen to the front door, but before going through it, she insisted on having Wulf stay outside. Even though Danielle had tried reassuring her that Wulf was safe to be around, Valerie was persistent on her view and Danielle eventually agreed. Wulf seemed to have some suspicions about Valerie still, but after Danielle shared some reassuring words with him, he gave in as well. Considering the teenage ghost-hunter had greeted the great dog by threatening to shoot him, Danielle couldn't blame the ghost beast at all for being a bit untrusting.

Valerie led the ghostly teenager inside the house and into the front room. It was a neat living area with a couch next to the large window with a view of the front yard. A coffee table was placed in the center of the room, close to the couch.

Soon after Danielle had a look around the sitting area, Valerie offered some snacks. Since Danielle hadn't really been able to eat anything, aside from the apple, before leaving the cave, she accepted the offer thankfully.

The two girls got comfortable on the couch when Valerie took out the article clipping Danielle had found on the street. She set it down on the coffee table, where the both of them could see it. "Now then. About this." She began, as half-ghost teenager finished the last bite of a cookie.

Valerie then began with the story of how the students of Casper High were just having their break in between classes when the ghost described in the article had attacked. Evidently, the ghost's name was Lydia.

Valerie had been in the same hall as Danny and his friends were, when the ghost-attack took place. Danny had fought the red-cloaked ghost and it seemed he was doing all right. But Lydia pulled a fast one on him in taking Sam and using her as a shield, or so it seemed at first. The next minute anyone knew, she went intangible and flew through the ceiling, carrying Sam with her her. Valerie clarified how Danny tried to go after her to get his friend back, but Lydia had sent her tattoo friends around as a distraction, attacking other students and thus no one saw where Lydia went. Though, it became evident that taking Sam was Lydia's plan all along and not just to terrorize or release a temper tantrum, like other ghosts that attacked the school did.

By the time Valerie finished, Danielle was feeling horrible. Why didn't she think to come sooner? She would have been able to help if she knew things had been going so badly in Amity Park.

"And how did _Danny_ take this whole thing?" she asked Valerie.

"Well, he wanted to go after her, of course. And the teachers excused him for the rest of the day to do that: Him being a hero-celebrity and all. But he still couldn't find any trails leading to where Lydia had taken Sam. And he also had some _other_ ghosts to fight on the way."

Danielle looked down at her feet. Her despair rising. "Man, he must have felt devastated after that happened."

"Well, I heard him talking with Tucker that he was feeling bad about how he had been right there during the attack, and he couldn't help Sam." When Danielle looked at her suspiciously, Valerie added, rolling her eyes, "Yes I _do_ eavesdrop on people's conversations. Who _doesn't_ once in a while?"

The ghost hybrid scoffed at this before redirecting the subject back. "But that still doesn't explain all the ghosts around." She remarked, glancing out the window and back at Valerie. "He hasn't been slacking off in protecting the town just because of a mistake, has he?"

"Oh, no. Definitely not." Valerie exclaimed, shaking her head. "In fact, the mayor…Tucker…had organized a search party for Danny to help track Lydia down. That way, Danny could still protect the city from ghost-attacks."

"So why is the ghost problem so bad, _now_?" Danielle asked, indicating outside where a ghost could be seen gliding passed the house across the street.

Valerie paused before going on with a rather slow and hesitant start. "Um…well…in truth…Sam's kidnapping isn't even _half_ the problem." When Danielle looked at her baffled at how it _couldn't_ be the entire problem, Valerie stood up from the couch. "Let me get something, first." She told the ghost-girl, as she started to walk into the next room. She came back within a few seconds with a full-length newspaper. "I sort of wonder why I decided to hang on to this, but…you probably should take a look and this, before I say anything else." With a sad look on her face, she tossed it onto the coffee table in front of Danielle where she read clearly, on the front page, _Mayor Foley Abducted from City Hall. _

"What?" Danielle said, in bewilderment at the title, and snatched up the paper to take a better look. "Tucker was taken, too?"

"By the same ghost who took Sam from the high school." Valerie confirmed with a solemn nod. "That happened only a few days after Sam was kidnapped." She said, pointing at the newspaper. "No one knows how it happened. City Hall had some anti-spectral technology put up to protect it against something like this. It was also programmed to recognize Danny's ecto-signature, so he could see Tucker whenever he wanted. But somehow, the day the mayor was taken hostage, the programming seemed to just…reverse."

"What do you mean?" Asked, Danielle, looking up from the newspaper.

"It let every _other_ ghost in the area inside, except Danny. So he couldn't get in to help Tucker before Lydia grabbed him and disappeared. You'll notice in there that investigators think it could have been an inside job, though."

"Who in City Hall would want to turn against the hero that _saved_ everybody?" The hybrid clone asked, completely infuriated at the very thought.

Valerie only shook her head, making her way around the coffee table to sit down again, saying, "I don't know, Dani. No one does. But… no matter how popular an opinion is, there's always someone with an opposing viewpoint. And it's the only logical explanation for the reversal thing happening."

Danielle looked back down at the newspaper with a sigh and started thumbing through the pages. "So what did he do?" she asked, as she did this, not even paying attention to anything written on the pages.

"Well, the townspeople still insisted on him sticking with his ghost-fighting, protecting the people and all that. So the government hired more investigators to find Tucker as _well _as Sam. Danny's parents even joined in the search."

"Have they had any luck?"

Valerie shook her head sadly. "When his parents went to look in on a lead they thought might be outside the town, they went missing."

Danielle tossed the open newspaper onto the coffee table and buried her face in her hands. This was just getting worse and worse the more she was finding out about. "So his parents have been caught by this ghost, too?" she asked, regretfully.

"Possibly." Valerie responded, quietly and looking rather concerned at Danielle as if feeling the same thing she was.

Danielle looked back down at the newspaper that lay open at the page where the '_Missing_' article of Sam was. Danielle's eyes wandered to the page next to it, where the title, _Jail Break from Amity Park Penitentiary_ caught her eye. Underneath the title was a picture of the town jail. Next to it was a headshot of an extremely white faced man with a long nose. He looked like he was wearing clown-makeup and a dark trench-coat. Nothing but a very small hat topped his bald, head. The only identifiable name Danielle could see under the photo was _Freakshow_.

'Freak' was right. He looked _very_ freaky to the ghost-girl. Deciding that the man's face was too creepy for her liking, she refolded the newspaper with one hand, resetting it on the coffee table.

After looking at the picture of the chaotic scene of the ghost-attack on City Hall on the front page for a second, the young teenager asked, "So, where's Danny _now_?"

Valerie sighed. "That's another question no one seems to know the answer to." She said. "None of the investigation teams were having any luck in finding anything on Lydia or the people she kidnapped. So, people think Danny must have gone to try and look for them, himself."

Danielle nodded and finished for her with, "Leaving the town to be overrun by all these ghosts." She stood up and walked over to the window and looked out at the surrounding neighborhood. In the distance, she could see more ghosts popping up here and there, roaming the place without the ghostly hero around to chase them off.

"Since Danny disappeared, I've been trying to keep the ghosts under control myself," Valerie said from the couch behind the ghost-girl. "But…."

"You haven't been doing too well?" Danielle finished for her again.

"Well…I'll say right now that in trying to fight all these ghosts away, I've realized I really don't know as much about them as I should. Or at least, not enough to be able to act as any kind of replacement for Danny."

"I don't think _anyone_ could ever replace _Danny_." Danielle said softly, thinking of passed memories of how the ghost cousin of hers had saved her, and helped her to discover the truth about Vlad. "That's why I have to find him." She added with determination in her voice.

"What?" Valerie sounded a bit surprised at this remark.

Danielle turned to her ghost-hunting friend. "Does anyone know where he was last seen before he left Amity Park?"

"Um…well," Valerie began hesitantly and confused. "My dad's told me that he was once seen around Fenton Works, where he used to live."

"Then that's where I'll start."

Danielle looked back out the window with her determination growing but Valerie got up from the couch in protest. "But you told me earlier about your powers not working, or something." She argued. Danielle turned to face the ghost-hunting teenager as she was walking up to her. "If you're really planning on going to look for him, how are you going to do it by yourself, and without your powers?"

"I _won't_ be by myself." Danielle said, smiling out the window where she just knew that Wulf was peaking inside, invisible. He must have gotten the message that she already knew he was there, because he turned visible again. Danielle guessed he had been watching from there the whole time, keeping an eye on his young friend, but made himself unseen so Valerie wouldn't feel as uncomfortable in talking to Danielle. "And I _can_ use _some_ of my powers." The teen ghost went on, facing Valerie again. She then charged up a small glow of ecto-energy in a raised fist to prove it. She still felt a shorting block that prevented her from making the charge go any bigger, but she could at least maintain the glow.

"Apparently only to a certain extent." Valerie commented on the green illumination. The charge must have still looked rather weak to her, despite Danielle's effort to make it as big as possible. The ghost-powered teen allowed it to fade before Valerie said, "Even if you _could_ use them properly and find Danny…" she paused for a minute in which she looked down at the floor, shuffling her feet looking rather disappointed. "I was…kind of hoping you would…stay and help me out with all these ghosts."

At this, Danielle stared at her almost not believing what she had just heard. The teenage ghost started to feel sorry for her but she sighed. "Valerie," she said, softly. "I may have the same _powers_ as Danny. Heck we even _look_ somewhat the same. But…As I said before: _no_ one could ever replace him. Not even _me_." Valerie looked back up at the girl two years younger than her before the ghost-powered teen continued. "Besides. If Danny's in trouble…" She paused and looked down, lowering her voice. "I'd…I'd never be able to live with it… if I didn't at least _try._" She looked back up into Valerie's eyes that seemed to be full of sympathy now. "And, even though I can't fully harness _my_ ghost-powers, I'm still not _entirely_ helpless."

She looked back outside where Wulf stood, smiling back at her. He could probably hear their conversation through the wall with those big ears of his.

The clone of the young ghost hero then turned back to Valerie to say one last thing. "Danny's always been looking out for _me_. It's time I did the same for him." Valerie smiled at this and nodded in understanding. Danielle smiled back and looked at the newspaper that still laid on the coffee table. "Could I…maybe…hold onto that?" she asked Valerie, indicating the paper.

After Valerie noticed what she meant, she nodded. "Oh. Yeah sure." She replied. She reached over to the coffee table, picked up the paper and handed it to Danielle who smiled in thanks.

As Danielle headed towards the front door, she folded it to a size small enough to fit into her hooded shirt pocket.

Valerie went ahead and opened the door for her as she was tucking the newspaper away.

"Be careful, though." The eighteen-year-old ghost-hunter said as the ghost-hybrid went through the doorway to meet Wulf. He was already on the driveway bending down so she could mount him.

As Danielle hoisted herself onto Wulf's back, Valerie came out onto the walkway. "Find him and the others soon." She said. "The world still needs a ghostly hero."

After nodding her acknowledgment, Danielle waved goodbye to her, saying, "Thanks for filling me in, Valerie."

Then, she tightened her grip on Wulf's green overcoat and he took off in the direction of Fenton Works.

**_PHEW! This is probably the longest chapter I have written yet. It would have been longer too but I decided to give the next part it's own chapter. And, no. Dani still doesn't have the full use of her powers back yet. I know. But now at least you know more on what's going on._**

**_I give my thanks to my younger sister Blackjay who has been so kind as to post this story for me, as well as in help me come up with some ideas that smoothed out a few rough spots I had encountered earlier with this chapter, especially with the part in meeting up with Valerie. That little suggestion of hers made all the difference._**


	7. Ghost Scene Investigation

_**All right. It took a bit longer than I thought, but we are **__**finally**__** at the chapter before the one that inspired this whole story. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.**_

**Chapter 7: Ghost Scene Investigation**

Danielle had been to Fenton Works only once before. Back then, she had been on some business of deceit for Vlad. However, when Plasmius created her, he gave her pieces of the same knowledge that were had by his teenage foe. Some of which included where Danny lived and the places he most frequently went to, such as his school, the mall, and Tucker's and Sam's houses.

However, Amity Park looked different now with new and larger buildings and duller streets. In addition, the last time the clone, ghost-girl found Fenton Works, she had only recognized it from seeing the Emergency Op Center that was built on the top. The girl hybrid highly doubted that the Op Center would still be there, so she knew finding Danny's old house would be a little more difficult this time.

And this was disregarding the numerous amounts of ghosts that had invaded the whole city. Danielle and Wulf had to take care of quite a few specters that were wreaking havoc while on their search for Fenton Works. It was getting rather ridiculous how many ghosts were attacking at once. No wonder Valerie was getting discouraged. But it was reason enough to know that Danny had to be found and brought back as soon as possible.

Once he returned, Danielle was sure he would be able to take care of the problem like a charm. Most of the ghosts Danielle and Wulf ran into just disappeared as soon as they saw the ghost-girl's eyes glowing green: just like the first ghosts she defeated when she first arrived in town. In seeing this repeated action, the teenage girl came to the conclusion that most of the ghosts here probably usually stayed away from Amity Park because they were scared out of their spectral minds of Danny. If making eye-contact with a mirrored impersonation of the teenage, ghost-hero was enough to get the ghosts to head out, perhaps the mere sight of the original would _really_ get them spooked, and they would go and haunt somewhere else. Better yet, just go back to the ghost-zone, willingly.

But she would first have to find him. And perhaps the last place he was sighted would hold some clue of where he went. Danielle really wished she had her ability to fly. Then, she would be able to see Fenton Works better from a bird's-eye-view. But, to her disappointment and irritation, she_ couldn't_ fly yet. However, the method of speedy transportation she _did_ have was Wulf. And that was good enough for her until she could function properly as a ghost again. As for the bird's-eye-view, Wulf was able to just climb up on the taller buildings and overlook the city for Danny's old neighborhood. Sooner or later, they had found the general area where the house was, and Danielle was able to take care of the street directions well enough on her own from that point.

It took perhaps a little over an hour since leaving Valerie's house to find Danny's, but they finally arrived. The Emergency Op Center was gone, as expected, but the _Fenton Works_ sign was still there, so Danielle knew they were definitely at the right place.

They stopped in front of the building and Danielle dismounted Wulf. She walked up the steps to the front door and tried turning the handle, but it was locked. Of course. The teen hybrid didn't know why she bothered trying it. She had already known that no one was living there anymore.

Just then, she remembered her intangibility power. It had been a while since she last tried it. Maybe she could tap into it now.

Looking at her hand, she searched within herself for the power she needed. When she found it, it was very faint and a bit difficult to bring it out. She focused on it until she was able to make her arm insubstantial. When she reached out with her hand to touch the door, it passed straight through.

It worked. Or, so she thought at first. When she tried to turn the rest of her body intangible to go through the door the rest of the way, she couldn't. She lost her grasp on the power she was trying to keep active and her arm turned back to its solid state. Her hand was still in the door when this happened.

"Oh great." She said, as her arm got stuck. She tried to turn it intangible again and get it out, but the faint source of power that she needed was now gone. She closed her eyes and searched inside herself to try and find it again, but it wasn't there. She couldn't locate it. Couldn't focus on it. She then attempted pulling her hand out herself, but she couldn't even get it to budge.

As she let out a heavy sigh, trying to calm down and think of how to get out of this inconvenient fix, Wulf came up behind her. Putting a giant front paw around her shoulder, and putting his other paw on her stuck arm, he turned it intangible himself and phased her hand free

"That's better." She said, opening and closing her now unstuck hand in relief and thanking Wulf with a smile.

Wulf then, scooped the teenage ghost up in his huge and somewhat humanoid front paws. He turned his whole self and the young girl intangible and carried her through the locked door. When they got inside, the dog-like creature returned to his solid state and set his friend down on her feet, gently. Danielle felt grateful that even though _she_ couldn't use her powers, she had someone with her who could.

The house was empty as the girl looked around its interior. There were very few pieces of furniture and they were all covered in dust. Some were even toppled over. The Fentons apparently didn't take all of it with them when they moved out. There were several big holes in the walls where the teenage hybrid remembered some control panels to ghost-defense-systems used to be. No one seemed to have bothered to patch up the holes the removal of the panels had left behind. Judging from this empty, and yet untidy appearance, the ghostly teenager thought that the Fentons must have been in a bit of a hurry to get out of the house.

Danielle walked through the front room and proceeded to the kitchen, which was also in the same state. Wulf sniffed around as they continued to the doorway to the basement where the lab was.

As Danielle went through the doorway, she felt a bit of a tingle that she couldn't understand. She was halfway down the stairs when she suddenly heard Wulf let out a dog-like yelp. Thinking he may have hurt himself, the young girl spun around in concern.

He seemed all right. But for some reason, he had stopped at the doorway to the basement. He tried stepping onto the staircase again but something made him stumble back. When he attempted to _phase_ through whatever was stopping him from following his friend downstairs, he got the same result.

"Must be a ghost-shield." Danielle said, in remembering the tingle she felt when she had passed through the doorway. "Sorry Wulf, looks like you're gonna have to just stay up here." She called up to Wulf. "You won't be able to get through that." after the ghost-beast tried a few more times to get through the doorway, he reluctantly backed away from the stairs, giving in. "I'll just take a look around down here and I'll be right back, okay?" She said to him and after she saw Wulf nod, she preceded the rest of the way down the stairs. _**(**__**Author's note:**__** I know in Public Enemies, Wulf is able to cut through that ghos- shield. But let me point out that in that episode, the shield was actually visible and huge. In addition, it was already limited on power and Wulf was able to start the drilling from a good vantage point. In this story, the ghost-shield is just blocking an entryway and is a more advanced kind. And this is the house that his friend once lived in, and trying to break through this one would not only cause permanent damage to the shield, but also to the house. I don't think he'd want that and I'm not saying it in the actual dialogue of the story because this is supposed to be Danielle's point of view right now.)**_

There wasn't much to see in the lab. The Fentons had taken practically everything in _this_ room except a few small and incomplete gadgets scattered on the floor and on a table. There were burnt places in the metal walls that must have been the results of weapons tests or experiments that had gone wrong. In observing the old beakers and test tubes that were lying around on the nearby table, her mind began to wander to unpleasant thoughts. The metallic walls and the remains of the Fenton-Ghost-Portal reminded her very much of Plasmius's lab where the young clone's existence had nearly ended.

The young girl shivered as the unforgettable memory haunted her. She turned for the stairs to leave the lab and desert the disturbing recollections. But then she stopped and thought, why would the Fentons bother to put up a ghost-shield around the room if there was nothing special in there? Danielle couldn't just leave without searching the lab more thoroughly, just because she was getting scared. What if she missed something that could help her find out where Danny went? Considering the ghost-shield, Wulf certainly couldn't look _for_ her. So the girl turned around, facing the lab again. She took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind of any unpleasant memoirs and started her search.

At first, there didn't seem to be anything significant, until she came across a strange, gun-shaped gadget that was on the far side of the old table. It seemed to be the only complete piece of technology in the lab, and it had a sticky-note attached to it. She picked up the gadget to read the note, which said,

_Note to self: fix the special ghost-ability-stopping problem in the Portable Ecto Stop-o Power-o Fire. _

_-Jack_

Then further down, in different handwriting, it said,

_P.S. rename it, too._

_-Jazz_

That was for sure. What kind of a long-winded, tongue-twisting name was Portable Ecto Stop-o Power-o Fire?

Looking the gadget over, Danielle thought that the Fentons probably didn't bother bringing it with them because the problem it was undergoing was too complicated. Or perhaps they left it simply because of the incredibly stupid name. Danielle scoffed at the thought.

Yet, _from_ the dumb name, the teen hybrid was still able to get a good idea of what the invention was supposed to do: Stop ghosts from using their powers. Judging from the note, it apparently wouldn't stop the different _special_ abilities that individual ghosts had, but Danielle thought the gadget might still prove useful.

The gun-like device had a belt attachment mechanism, which she used to clip it to her side.

The teenage girl was starting to feel uncomfortable again from the appearance of the lab, but she took just one last look around in case she missed anything else. The haunting recollections were starting to enter her mind again when she thought that there probably wasn't anything else here. She turned and quickly went up the stairs and out of the lab to escape the horrible memories she had always tried so hard not to think about.

Wulf was waiting for her at the top of the stairs and after passing through the ghost-shield, the young, ghostly teen let out a big sigh of relief, happy to be out of the basement. Then she and her ghost-dog companion continued their exploration of the rest of the house.

Their search led them up the stairs and Danielle looked in each room as she passed the doors to them in the hall. Wulf followed, sniffing around for anything hidden.

There was one door that she opened to look inside, and in recognizing an astronaut poster that was still on the wall and the models of rockets and solar systems that were dangling from the ceiling, the teenage ghost realized that this was Danny's old bedroom.

She remembered that he liked collecting practically anything that had to do with NASA and outer space. Some of these models he had even built himself. Aside from the space related stuff, the room was just as empty and the walls were beaten up the same way the other rooms were. The ghost-girl wondered if Danny still had his sights on becoming an astronaut, even after becoming the world's ghost-hero.

The memories Danielle had in this room weren't exactly the best ones, considering she had been working for Vlad at the time. Nevertheless, it gave her a much better feeling than the _lab_ did. This was the room that she and Danny had met for the first time.

She thought through how Danny had phased through the ceiling of this room in returning from a fight with a ghost Vlad had sent after him. She remembered his expression in finding a, back then, twelve-year-old girl in his bedroom, reading his comic books. That first meeting didn't exactly end on the best terms. Danielle thought that he was also already suspecting something fishy was going on by the end of that day. Especially after finding out that she was half-ghost too.

At that moment, realizing that she had forgotten why she was even in the house, Danielle began to look around the bedroom for any clues that might lead to where Danny was now. When she only got the same result as in all the other rooms, Danielle started to think that maybe coming here wasn't a great idea after all. Now that she thought of it in fact, she wondered why there would be anything here that led them in the right direction of finding Danny if the Fenton's hadn't even lived here for two years.

Perhaps Danny was only seen around here because he was just visiting for memory's sake. With his parents and friends captured, the place probably gave him a comforting feeling of reassurance that the young girl duplication of him knew she probably wouldn't understand.

Come to think of it, Danielle realized that she had been traveling around, mostly because she felt like she never really belonged anywhere. She had no place of residence of her own, like Danny did. No place that she ever really felt at home.

Unlike Danny, she also never had any real family. The only family the young ghost-girl really knew or had was Vlad Plasmius. Even though she was his creation, he was far from being any kind of truly loving father.

Danny may have considered the girl-hybrid to be family to _him_, but they didn't have any real relation. As far as Danielle knew, his parents didn't even know about her. Sam and Tucker did, but they probably didn't know that Danielle was actually the result of an experiment of their best friend's archenemy.

The young girl was glad that Danny was able to see through that, but she wondered how his family would feel about the fact that she used to be under Vlad's command.

The thought of possible rejection saddened her, but she snapped out of these thoughts and redirected her mind on her current goal.

But after another minute or two of finding nothing of importance, it seemed useless to remain. Maybe she could just ask around town and find a lead elsewhere. The teenage girl perhaps would find something at Casper High or the Manson or Foley residences.

"Come on, Wulf." She said to the big dog, who was sniffing around the room. He didn't seem to be having any luck in finding anything either. "Let's go." And she disappointedly walked out of the room.

As she made her way down the hall to the stairs, she put her hand on the device at her side that she found in the lab. _Well, at least coming here wasn't __**entirely**__ a waist of time_, she thought.

As the ghost-teen descended the stairs, she looked over the railing, glancing around the front room from this higher vantage point. Her eyes ran over the torn up walls and dusty pieces of furniture. It was still nice to be in the old house of her cousin's even if her hopes of finding a lead here seemed in vain.

Suddenly, she spotted a yellow piece of paper that was on the floor near the entryway of the house. Danielle didn't remember seeing _that_ there. But then she recalled that she didn't really look at the floor _behind_ her after Wulf phased them through the door.

When the ghost-powered girl got to the bottom of the stairs, she noticed that the paper looked quite new. It wasn't dust-covered like the rest of the house was and there was writing on it. On the top edge of the paper was a piece of tape that must have held the paper to the door at one time. Thinking it might be another written reminder of some kind, the girl knelt down on one knee and picked it up. When she started reading the words on the paper though, her heedless thoughts of the note suddenly dispersed.

_-Danny Phantom_

_I have taken your sister hostage along _

_with the rest of your family. If you _

_want to see them and your friends _

_again, come to the Amity Park Train _

_Station and follow the tracks my old _

_Circus Gothica train had taken when _

_departing your precious town those _

_three years ago. (I assume you _

_remember which ones those are). And _

_make sure you come alone if you want _

_your loved ones to remain unharmed._

_For the sake of drama you have until _

_sunset tonight._

"Signed, _Freakshow_?" Danielle said out load, reading the signature at the end of the note. But _Lydia_ was the one who took Danny's family. Who was this _Freakshow_ person?

After a moment of thought, the teen ghost recalled reading that name in the newspaper at Valerie's house. Remembering that she had the newspaper with her, the girl quickly pulled it out of her shirt pocket and unfolded it, looking for the page that had the report of the jailbreak. When she found it, she began to read the article posted underneath the title, trying to ignore the creepy looking picture of the broken-out fugitive.

_Three years ago, former ringmaster of Circus Gothica, Freakshow _

_was arrested for robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder. This _

_week on February 4__th__, a jailbreak took place and Freakshow escaped. _

_Witnesses confirm that the breakout became possible with the help _

_of his red-cloaked, female ghost-counterpart, known as Lydia. _

_Danny Phantom, who has had prior experience with this same _

_criminal, informs us that during the time that he was considered a _

_ghostly fugitive to the public, the old ringmaster had once had the _

_ability to control specters to act as his slaves in entertaining in his _

_Circus Gothica performances that he once hosted, with a ghost,_

_mind-controlling staff. He also used his control over the ghosts to _

_commit outside crimes of thievery on his behalf. _

"_Freakshow even brainwashed Danny himself into doing evil deeds_

_for him, but Lydia is the only ghost who's willingly working for him." _

_Says the Mayor of Amity Park who is also an acquaintance of our own_

_ghost-hero. _

_When asked how he managed to escape this fix, Danny Phantom _

_reports, "It was my friends that helped me to fight the control _

_Freakshow had on me. After breaking out of it, I was also able to_

_get him turned over to the police." _

_After Freakshow was taken into custody, he was discovered to have _

_committed other crimes that were previously unknown since he was _

_never at the scene of the crimes that he had his ghost minions _

_commit for him._

_Word has it that Freakshow has escaped from the city asylum, _

_seeking revenge on Phantom with the assistance of his ghostly friend. _

_This is reason enough to believe that Freakshow is the man behind _

_Mayor Foley's kidnapping, soon after he broke out of jail, and the _

_disappearances of…_

Danielle didn't have to read anymore of the article. She already had the pieces she needed to complete the puzzle. "Well _this_ is something Valerie forgot to mention." She said out load, looking at the picture of the escaped convict. "That Lydia's working for someone _else_."

She refolded the newspaper and tucked it back into her pocket. She then looked back to the threatening, handwritten note Freakshow had left.

How long ago was this written? How long has it been since Danny had seen it and taken off after reading it? If he's been gone for over nearly a week, either it takes that long to get to where Freakshow was planning to meet him…but it couldn't take that long, because according to the note, Danny had to be there by sunset the day the note was written. But if the length of time to get to this place wasn't the reason Danny hadn't returned yet…then Freakshow must be holding _Danny_ now as well. Even worse, he's already done something to him to satisfy his vengeance for turning him in.

No. That couldn't be. But if Danny was still alive, he was still in danger. However, if Danielle acted now, there may still be time. "Wulf. We have to go." She said urgently, folding up the note and putting it in her pocket with the newspaper.

Knowing she couldn't phase through the door, the ghost-girl unlocked it herself and ran outside. She stopped in the middle of the street when she remembered that she had no idea where the train station was. Grabbing her black hair in angered frustration, she cried out, "How am I supposed follow any train tracks if I don't even know where the train station is?"

As soon as she said this, she felt the air at the back of her head shifting her hair around. She turned to see what it was and jumped in seeing Wulf's enormously large nose right by her face. He was sniffing her again. Wondering what he could possibly be doing _this_ time, she just stood there as he took in her scent. The furry beast soon started sniffing around the street as if trying to track something. Danielle watched him, puzzled, as the ghost-dog's sniffing took him to the side of the Fenton Works building. He started climbing up its walls, his nose running along them as he went up to the roof.

Danielle scratched her head, completely lost now, as Wulf set himself on the rooftop where the Op Center used to be. After smelling the roof for a second, Danielle saw his ears perk up and he raised his head. Leaning on the roof's edge, he started sniffing the air.

After another second, Wulf beamed down at the befuddled teenager, and pointed ahead, speaking in his weird language and sounding very sure of something.

Trying to think over what had just happened, Danielle figured that the giant dog might have just gone completely mad. His sense of smell must have gone wrong too, because if he was trying to track where the ghost-powered girl had been, he had gotten the direction they had come from right, but she had never even _been_ on the roof. Accept for three years ago, when she stayed in the guest-bedroom of the Op Center for a night. Still, that was years ago and the Op Center was gone now. She wouldn't have any trail up there anymore.

Then the thought struck her. What if _Danny_ had been up there recently? After reading the note from Freakshow, he must have phased through the roof and flown off in the direction of the train station. But if Wulf was searching for Danny's scent, what did he smell _Danielle_ for.

She pondered this for a moment when another thought occurred. She looked down at her hands.

She was Danny's clone. She may have been a faulty one that Vlad had made, but she was still a clone. What if, despite their difference in genders, Vlad's attempts to make them as identical as possible made her take on the same ecto-plasmic signature as Danny? If not, one that was incredibly similar. If that was the case, they probably also had a similar scent to giant ghost-dogs, like Wulf.

At this contemplation, Danielle slapped her head. How could she not have thought of it before? That was why Wulf had come to her rescue back in the woods. The two Phantoms _must_ smell about the same to him. The ghost-dog probably thought that she was _Danny_ at first and that he was in trouble, so Wulf came running. That explained a lot. And since the two ghost-hybrids did have pretty much the same scent, in smelling Danielle, Wulf was able to match her scent with Danny's. Now Wulf had found his trail and was pointing in the direction Danielle's ghostly cousin had flown off in, to get to the train station.

"Way to go, Wulf!" She congratulated, as Wulf jumped down from the roof, looking quite proud of himself. When he bent down on his front paws, Danielle climbed onto his back.

Now, with a very strong lead on Danny's trail, Wulf followed it.

Even with a few ghost detours on the way, before long, they had found the Amity Park Train Station. Wulf slid to a halt in the rail yard, which had several pairs of train tracks leading in different directions, away from the city.

He began sniffing around at the rails for Danny's scent, with the teenage girl still on his back. Whichever tracks this Circus Gothica train had been on before leaving the city, her furry ghost-friend would know.

It was only a short time before Wulf stopped at a one of the pairs of train tracks and he raised his head up, looking out to where the tracks led. Danielle followed his gaze up to where the tracks went out over a long, wooden bridge and beyond some distant hills.

That was it. These were the tracks that Danny had followed. The tracks that Danny lay beyond, and possibly also his missing friends and family.

"All right, Wulf." Danielle said, bracing herself, with new fortitude. "Fetch." And they were off.

Wulf ran with a series of giant leaps as he followed the ghost-boy's scent, onward. As they crossed over the bridge at an alarming speed, Danielle didn't know what else they would find at the end of the trail. She doubted that her powers would be fully functional by the time they got there, but she didn't care either. All she did know was that, with Wulf's help, she would find her older ghost-cousin and bring him home, whether she had her own ghost-powers or not.

_**You know, I've just noticed that in just about every chapter I've done, Dani's been "flying off dramatically." (In this case she's been **__**riding**__** off dramatically on Wulf, but you get the point.) I guess, even though it's "hard to fly off dramatically," (according to **__**D-stabilized**__**), Dani's getting pretty good at it. **_

_**All right. In the next chapter, we'll be introducing the **__**boy**__** Danny Phantom into the story and seeing what situation he's in. And I'll tell you right now, even though you probably already figured this out, that it won't be good. I'll see if I can work on that chapter this weekend. But as I said before I can't promise that I'll have it up as soon as I've been getting these other ones. **_


	8. A Deadly Reencounter

_**I had a really hard time figuring out how to start this off and make it lead into the part I was most anxious to write. After several revisions of the beginning part however, here it is. Now we see the fix that Danny, his family and his friends are in and what Freakshow is planning with all of them. If you spot any errors in the plot that you may dislike, please say so and I'll do my best to make it better. Enjoy**_

**Chapter 8: A Deadly Reencounter**

Out in the middle of grassy and dried out plains, where the Circus Gothica train-tracks ran, was the train itself. It was halted on the tracks as it was days ago, since Freakshow had escaped from the _Amity Park Penitentiary_. From the black and green colors and creepy images of skulls, bats, spider webs and other things all around the train's engine and linked cars, no one would ever think it was any kind of _circus_ train, unless you actually looked at the side where it said _Circus Gothica _on it.

A few of these train cars were cages, where people would think would be used to keep the circus animals in for transportation. However, Freakshow was the owner of this circus train and used these cages for entirely different confinement purposes: Such as holding Danny's friends and family prisoner.

Tucker Foley and Samantha Manson were locked in one of these cages while the car linked behind it held the ghost-boy's parents and sister, Jasmine.

Sam, the young Goth girl with short black hair, wore a black tank top and a knee-length skirt. Her purple nylons were topped with her bulky, black boots, which extended to under her kneecaps.

Sam was currently curled up in a corner of the cage, hugging her knees and looking depressed. Even for a Goth. To think, that she had once loved this very train for its ominous look. She also had admired its owner for the Gothic lover's entertainment she had thought it would bring to her when it first came to Amity Park. She hated herself now to have allowed herself to be deceived by a crook who took control of her friend and made him commit crimes he had vowed to stand against. Now here she was, the prisoner of the man she had, at one time, been fond of.

Tucker, the African-American techno-geek with glasses, would usually have on his yellow, long-sleeve shirt and pale green pants with hiking-style boots. And of course, his favorite touch: a red beret on his head. But now, being the mayor of Amity Park and having been in the middle of a meeting when he was taken captive, he had on a business suit with a bowtie and dress shoes. Though he _did_ still carry his beret around in his pocket so he could pull it out and wear it when he wasn't in any such meeting. He thought of it as an old-times souvenir. He also felt that it helped him to think better when he had it on, which is why he was wearing it at this moment.

But that didn't seem to matter right now. As much as he tried to find some technological way out of the situation he was now in, he just couldn't come up with anything helpful. He didn't have his trusty PDA with him. The one he used to carry around all the time when he acted as a superhero sidekick to Danny. The cell phone that he _did_ have was no help as any substitute for it either. In fact, it wasn't even helpful as a phone right now because it had no service out here in the middle of nowhere.

Back in the day, he usually always carried his backpack around that was always full of gadgets that he could use, but since becoming mayor, he had to refrain from constantly having it on his person. He tried every trick he knew to try and make the signal of his cell phone stronger so he could somehow call for help, but by now, he had long since given up on that idea. Without his usual equipment, he felt so useless.

In the next cage over, Danny's very large father, Jack Fenton, had graying hair and had on an orange jumpsuit with black boots and gloves. His arm was around his wife in an effort to try and comfort her from her feelings of helplessness he just knew she was going through. But it still didn't stop him from feeling those same emotions of vulnerability as well.

The mother, Maddie Fenton, short for Madeline, was quite small in comparison with her husband. She had short, brown hair and had a blue jumpsuit on with the same colored boots and gloves as Jack did. Despite her small and skinny figure in association with her very tall and very large spouse, she was usually the cleverer of the two of them, especially when it came to ghost-related things. In spite of the ghost-hunting expertise that this married couple had however, like Tucker, they too were stumped on how they were supposed to get out of this fix.

Jasmine, or Jazz as everyone called her, had very long red hair that was pulled back from her face with a blue headband. This college girl wore a black long-sleeve shirt and shoes with blue jeans. Yet, although she was smart enough to have skipped a year at her university, all she felt she could do was look out from behind the bars of her cage solemnly at the dome shaped energy field that was in front and centered between the two cage-cars that these people were being held in. When Tucker, Sam and her parents had gone missing, she had been staying at the old Fenton Works where she would be more available in the investigation and help her little brother wherever she could.

Inside the dome she was staring at, Danny Phantom himself sat with his elbows on his bent knees with his hands covering the sides of his head to hide his saddened face.

This dome he was inside was known as a Ghost Trap and he had been imprisoned inside it for almost a week by now. The dome emitted a blue light on the inside, which had its own energy that kept any ghost inside its walls from using their powers to any extent. Humans could obviously pass through it, because several times, his parents and friends had reached through the bars of their own cells to extended hands of comfort to him, right through the energy field. Nevertheless, even though Danny was only half-ghost, the trap worked just as effectively on him. He had been in his Phantom form when the Ghost Trap was triggered and he couldn't even use his ability to transform back into Danny Fenton and walk out, like he was sure he would be able to if he was only in his human form.

It was almost five and a half days ago since he had read the note addressed from Freakshow who had left it at Fenton Works after finding Jazz hiding there and taking her. In concern for the well-being of his friends and family, The half-ghost teen had indeed departed from Amity Park to follow the tracks as the note instructed.

From past experience he had with Freakshow, Danny had a feeling that the evil ringmaster would have a deceitful trick up his sleeve. The last time he broke out of jail and used Danny's family as leverage against him, he never specified releasing them, even after Danny had done what the man wanted. Had the ghost-boy not turned the tables in time, it would have cost all of their lives.

Freakshow never said anything about letting his loved ones go free in the note either, once he arrived at the train. Therefore, Danny had every reason to believe that Freakshow would be planning to do no such thing.

So, Danny had an idea that he could sneak in while invisible, and get his friends out himself. However, Freakshow had been three steps ahead of him with these very thoughts and had the Ghost Trap set and ready for him. When Danny found the train and so much as touched the cages his peers were locked in, the blue dome had all of a sudden materialized around him.

It was only after the Ghost Trap was triggered that Danny realized that he should have known Freakshow would be up to something like this. Now, Amity Park was left unprotected and Freakshow still refused to let his family go.

Since then, Danny, his friends, and his family had no choice but to sit around while Freakshow had Lydia sent on errands in which she kept bringing back some things in concealed bags that varied in quantities. The ringmaster wouldn't let them see what was inside the bags nor would he tell them or hint what it could be. He always said that he didn't want to ruin the surprise. However, saying the word "surprise" was the only clue the ghost-boy and his kin needed to know that whatever was in that bag wasn't good on their part.

Today, while Lydia was off on another search mission, Freakshow took the time in putting a thick wooden post in the ground, perhaps about fifteen feet from the train tracks in front of the cage-cars that held his captives. The post was perhaps at least a foot in diameter and stood six feet high when it was stuck into the ground.

"What's that for? Marking the trail?" Danny asked in a taunting manner and speaking the minds of everyone else who was wondering.

Freakshow merely grinned and patted his now finished work. "You might say that it's meant to be for a bit of a traditional purpose. But, you'll see what I mean by that soon enough." That was all he said before walking over to where a fire was lit and started stoking the flames. It was a bit of a gray afternoon with no sun shining and there was a slight, chilling breeze.

How convenient for Freakshow to have built the fire a far enough distance away that no one else could feel its warmth but him.

Danny was sheltered enough from the wind in his dome-shaped confinement and being half-ghost, he was better adaptable to changes in temperature like this, anyway. But as he looked around at his fellow captives, he noticed Sam rubbing her bare arms, and shivering slightly. Luckily, Tucker had the jacket of his tuxedo, and when he noticed Sam shudder a bit, he took it off and put it around her.

Danny looked back over to the dark coated man. There was a large, dark sack that sat next to Freakshow, at his feet. Since Danny had gotten here, that sack had been getting bigger and bigger as it became full of the things that Lydia kept bringing back.

Danny had noticed that she had protective gloves on, even though the things were covered already when she handed them to her master. The young boy also observed how she seemed to back away from Freakshow in a hurry as soon as he had the wrapped objects. It was as if she was afraid whatever was in the sack would bite her or something. During times that Freakshow was out of earshot, the ghost-boy had discussions about this with his friends and family through the bars of their cages. It had long become unanimous that whatever was in the bag was probably for Danny if a _ghost_ was afraid of it. And judging from the sack that seemed to have become quite full by now, they all had a feeling that they would soon find out what it was, and understand why Lydia was so intimidated by it.

Everyone remained silent for the remainder of the time until Lydia had returned. Freakshow stood up from the fire as she touched down. "Did you find any more?" He asked his ghost counterpart.

The red-cloaked ghost shook her hooded head but extended a hand out from under her cloak with something metallic in her hand. From the looks of it, they were two cuff-like bracelets. Freakshow took them and after taking a second to examine them, he grinned, looking in Danny's direction. "Excellent." He said with a malevolent smile that made the boy nervous. The old ringmaster then picked up the mysterious sack and opened it up to look inside. Lydia backed off slightly as he did so. "Well. We should have about enough anyway." He said.

"Enough of what?" Sam asked from behind the bars of her confinement.

"Enough _for_ what?" Jazz asked in addition.

Freakshow set the sack down again and walked over to the Ghost Trap with the metal cuffs. Danny slowly stood up as he approached, his fear growing with every step the man took towards him. "I'll tell you for what." Freakshow said with that same malicious look at him. This time, there was a glimmer of triumph on his face that set off a small spark of dread in the teenage ghost and he involuntarily backed up a few steps inside his dome confinement.

Freakshow then swiftly passed right through the dome-wall that Danny was trapped behind, with long strides, and grabbed the teenage boy by his arm. "My revenge on the "ghost hero" who ruined my life."

Danny struggled against him but the Ghost Trap also diminished his ghost-enhanced strength, and the pale-faced villain managed to get one of the cuffs onto the boy's wrist. The second Freakshow had locked the cuff into place, it sent a tingle throughout Danny's entire body that made him cry out from the mere unexpectedness of it.

Freakshow still had his hold on Danny's arm as he reached into his coat with his free hand and pulled out some sort of remote control. He pressed a button on it and the Ghost Trap surrounding them vanished.

Despite the energy field being let down, Danny only noticed the tingle get worse and he had no time to react before Lydia suddenly flew at him and pinned his shoulders to the cage-car that Tucker and Sam were in. As Danny now attempted to pry the cloaked ghost off of him, Freakshow succeeded in getting the other cuff onto the hybrid teen's other wrist. He felt himself getting restrained on the inside as the tingle that he was already feeling from the first cuff multiplied.

Tucker and Sam reached their arms through the bars of their cage to try and help loosen the grip of the ringmaster and his ghostly servant on their friend. It was no use though, and almost as soon as the second cuff was snapped on, the captors began dragging him away from his friends. Danny desperately reached out for their hands, but he could only brush Sam's fingers as Freakshow and Lydia pulled him out of range of their caring touch. He tried to go intangible and break free of their hold on him, but the tingle the cuffs emitted completely disrupted his powers. His family greatly protested as Freakshow and Lydia dragged the boy over to the wooden post the pale-faced criminal had installed in the ground earlier.

The old ringmaster then forced the teenage boy down to his knees, putting his back against the wooden post. Lydia grabbed his cuffed wrists, pulling them behind him and around the post as Freakshow held the boy in place against it. As soon as the tattooed woman got his hands inches away from meeting each other behind the vertical beam of wood, a blue string of electric energy linked the two cuffs together. It pulsed with an electric blue light and had a magnetic field that was so strong, it may as well have been a thick chain.

Freakshow and Lydia now let go of Danny as he tried every effort to free himself. "Ah, so young and yet so determined in every effort you make. Whether you succeed or not." Freakshow said with a satisfied snigger as he watched his enemy struggle. "And I can tell you right now that you won't succeed in this one. Those are _spectral_ cuffs." Danny stopped fighting it and looked up at Freakshow before he went on. "I had Lydia go and…"pick them up"…from The Guys in White, just for you. No ghost, or in your case, ghost-_hybrid_, can break them." Danny signed in frustration, giving in, and glared up at the pale-faced ringmaster. He hated the idea of giving up, but he was not going to give this criminal the satisfaction of seeing his victim look helpless and desperate.

"You have no idea how long and how much I've wanted to destroy you since turning me over to the police those three years ago." Freakshow said, looking down at his ghostly nemesis with his mean look.

Danny simply scoffed up at him. "Get in line with all the ghosts who want that exact same thing." He responded

"Yeah. They have a whole club." Sam said sarcastically from behind the clown-faced criminal. "I'm sure they have jackets, too."

Freakshow turned to face her. "And it will be _I_ who gets to do the very thing that ghosts will, for once, be envious of _me_ for." He let out his hysterical and yet evil laugh and went over to the fire to retrieve the sack.

"Look, Freakshow. You have me now. You can do whatever you want with me but let the others go." Danny demanded as the ringmaster opened up the sack.

"Don't worry, they will be freed. I just thought they might want to see you for the last time before I annihilate you." Freakshow said with a grin. "Plus, I can't have them running off, informing the police of my whereabouts and ruining my plans."

Danny glared up at the treacherous man. He should have known that would be his answer as soon as he made the demand.

"My time of vengeance is now at hand, Danny Phantom." Freakshow said, reaching into the sack. "Behold. The means of your destruction." Lydia cautiously stepped back and away from Freakshow again as he finally pulled out the thing that he had been collecting in the sack to present it.

"Roses?" Jazz said, with a skeptical look at the bright red flowers in Freakshow's hand. "How are _roses_ supposed to destroy _my_ little brother?" The twenty-year-old college girl looked over in the next cage-car where Tucker and Sam were. Tucker looked just as confused as she and her parents were and even seemed amused at the thought of flowers being the means of his ghostly friends destruction. But for some reason, Sam's expression wasn't nearly the same. It fact, she looked quite fearful.

Sam's mouth hung slightly open as she stared petrified at the red flowers. "Tucker?" She asked her geek friend, nervously. "Don't those look familiar to you?"

After she finished saying this, Tucker looked back at the flowers. As he squinted for a better look, he noticed them start to emit a red vapor. He scratched his head in thought and said, "now that I think of it, the blood-stained color seems to…" he stopped in mid-sentence and backtracked. "B-b-bl…blood?" He stuttered as it hit him as well what Sam was feeling. "Those aren't roses. They're…"

"Blood Blossoms." Danny finished for him, with the same fear that his friends were feeling in his own voice.

The Fentons didn't know what Blood Blossoms were, but from the tones of the kids' voices and the sound of the name, they knew that it couldn't be good at all for Danny.

Freakshow looked back and forth between the bound ghost-boy and his two companions with a very broad grin. "Ah. So you're familiar with them." Then, he looked at the confused faces of Danny's sister and parents. "But just for the enlightenment of those who _don't_ know about it, allow me to explain." He walked over to the two cage-cars as if stepping in front of a grand audience for a performance and cleared his throat. "Blood Blossom was used around the 1600's during the Salem Witch Trials. It's very ancient and very rare nowadays. You can imagine what it took for me and Lydia to find enough in order to use them the way the Salem villagers…"

"Oh, skip the history lesson and get to the point." Mr. Fenton said, impatiently and angrily.

"Very well." Freakshow said with a shrug. Then after a dramatic pause he stated, "It's an anti-ghost remedy." He paused again as the ghost-hunting family looked at him with faces of growing anxiety in realizing what the kids were so afraid of. "And if used properly," Freakshow continued after drinking in the families stunned expressions, "it can not only repel and weaken any ghost, but it can also destroy them."

"Tell me about it." Tucker put in, and he turned to face Danny's parents who were already worried. "The last time we encountered that stuff, Vlad had introduced Danny to it and it nearly killed him."

"And I'll be sure it finishes the job this time." Freakshow said, looking back at Danny with his evil smile. Danny felt his heart pounding as Freakshow slowly started walking back over to him with the Blood Blossoms in his hand.

"You keep that floral abomination away from my boy!" Maddie called out from behind the ringmaster, grabbing the bars of her prison. But the clown-faced ringmaster ignored her demand and bent down, moving the blood-colored flowers towards her youngest child.

Danny cringed, turning his head away from the red substance shutting his eyes tight, but Freakshow grabbed him by his thick white hair and forced his face into the vapor that the Blood Blossoms gave off. The boy cried out as the touch of the vapor burned him and he instantly felt himself grow weaker.

It was only about a second or two before Freakshow let go of him and allowed him to withdraw from the Blood Blossoms, but the effects those few seconds he had in contact with them were astronomical. Danny's breathing suddenly got heavier and he looked up at Freakshow who was grinning proudly down at the destructive essence in his hands. "Remarkable. If simply touching the vapor causes you _that_ much grief, I can't wait to see the effects the full circle will have."

Letting out an evil laugh, Freakshow reached into the bag for more of the blossoms and one-by-one started dropping them around Danny. As each Blood Blossom fell to the ground, forming the intended circle arrangement, Danny felt the familiar tingle being in close proximity to the blossoms gave him. His family and friends started to plea as the criminal made his way around teenage ghost, letting the blossoms fall into place, but they could do nothing to stop him from doing it.

Freakshow was now halfway around Danny and the boy shut his eyes again tight. His muscles tensed up as he tried to resist the tingling as it became worse to the point where it started to hurt.

The ringmaster eventually made the rest of the way around him and completed the deadly circle. As soon as the last blossom was in place, the rate the already climbing pain increased so suddenly, and Danny started crying out again.

He may have come across this substance before, but it had been long ago and he didn't think he ever remembered it hurting this much. He started to shout even louder as the pain just continued to build and infest every bit of his body, millions of tiny and burning stings worked together to cause the boy excessive and prolonged torture.

Before learning his secret identity, his parents use to always threaten to "tear him apart molecule-by-molecule." This must have been what it actually felt like.

"Yes, Phantom. Scream." Freakshow said with another laugh. "It makes watching your demise that much sweeter." Lydia watched from a distance, smiling as her master began drinking in his vengeance.

Danny felt himself growing steadily weaker as the red flowers slowly and painfully drained him of his physical as well as ghostly energy. He desperately tried to go intangible again and escape this torment, but the spectral-cuffs were already preventing him from using his powers and the agony was so overwhelming he just couldn't focus on anything put the severe pain that would not lift.

He heard his loved ones calling out for him and begging Freakshow to stop, but the evil criminal only let out his hysterical cackle.

Jazz hid her face in her hands as her mother embraced her. Jack put his arms around both his wife and daughter, closing his eyes tight. He could no longer bear to watch his son suffer so while he could do nothing but sit and listen to his heart-piercing cries.

"No." Jazz whimpered in her mother's arms, as her little brother's painful cries continued to increase and become filled with heart-filled suffering.

Sam's eyes started to swell up in tears and she covered her face, not wanting to believe that this was happening. "Please, make it stop." She begged, started to weep.

Tucker just stood there behind the bars of his cage in shocked silence, watching his best friend fade. He slid down to his knees and covered his ears in an attempt to block out the distressing cries of agony, but nothing he did could stop him from being fully aware of what was happening only a few yards away.

Danny's agonizing cries now started to become weaker as the torture he was going through ate away at him from the inside out. His head hung down as the last of his strength was starting to diminish. Any minute now he was probably going to pass out from the pain the Blood Blossoms were inflicting on him and they would simply continue on and finish their job in destroying him.

"Somebody…please." Danny managed to plead weakly and through gasped breaths. "Help me."

Freakshow threw his head back in laughter again. "That's right. Beg. You're hero days are over." The evil ringmaster bent down and pulled the poor boy's chin up, forcing him to look into his face, "And there's nothing anyone can do to make me stop watching you die." The helpless boy let out a moan of agony as the ringmaster let his head hang back down.

Just after Freakshow straightened up again, grinning, a young and defiant voice spoke from an unknown location. "Then how about if I make someone _else_ make you." Freakshow spun around and so did his caged prisoners to see a young, teenage girl with long black hair and a blue, hooded, double-sleeved shirt, standing beside the train, just a short distance away.

Freakshow could have sworn that no one was there before.

Even though Lydia almost instantly recognized the girl from the cave, she was just as confused as her circus master was in how the human girl could have just appeared out of nowhere.

"Where did _you_ come from?" Freakshow asked the girl, looking around, perplexed. For he saw no place where she could have just jumped out of hiding. "How did you find this place?"

The girl just ignored his questions and pointed at him, shouting, "Sick 'em, Wulf!"

At her command, a monstrous, dog-like ghost, suddenly became visible on top of the train and with a howl, he leaped right at Freakshow.

_**Well, this part alone turned out to be a bit longer than I thought, but I think a grand entrance for our heroine and her canine friend was a great way to end a chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter because as soon as I was done with it, I was quite excited to get it up. Chapter nine is on the way. **_


	9. Play with Fire, Get Burned

_**Okay, I know you guys were anxious to get on with the story, so I finished this chapter as soon as I could. I had already planned it out by the time I posted the last chapter anyway. So. How exactly are Dani and Wulf supposed to get Danny out of the Blood Blossom predicament when he's already fading fast and how will they get the other prisoners out of Freakshow's grasp? You can now find out. Here's chapter nine. **_

**Chapter 9: Play with Fire, Get Burned**

"Wulf?" Tucker and Sam said in unison and in surprised disbelief as the giant hairy beast pounced on top of the completely startled ringmaster. The force of the pounce pushed Freakshow onto his back, several feet away from Danny.

Wulf gnarled his hugely long teeth down at Freakshow, who looked fearfully into the face of the beast. He glanced up at Lydia for help, but she looked rather hesitant as she floated a few feet above the ground by the train, staring at the familiar beast that had her master pinned. Her glowing red eyes showed a flicker of fearful recognition from under her hood.

"Don't just float there, Lydia. Get this hairy animal…" but Freakshow stopped when he saw the young girl, who had sent the beast on him, running towards where Danny was. "Hey! Get away from there!" He shouted at her.

Danielle stopped in mid-step at the sudden protest as if someone who had just gotten caught doing something wrong. Lydia spotted what she was doing as well and before the girl-clone could take another step, the cloaked ghost glided in front of her, blocking her path to assisting her older cousin.

Lydia threw her cape back and lowered her hood, finally revealing her face to the girl. The tattooed woman's hair was a spiky, black mohawk and she had a nose ring and multiple ear piercing. Danielle couldn't help but feel a bit discussed at the ghost-woman's grotesque appearance. The full body of tattoos was bad enough, but she would have preferred that she kept her hood up.

Lydia extended her arms out as her green tattoos separated from her skin and shot right at the young girl with their usual wicked sounds and malevolent laughter. They hit the girl right in the chest all at once and forced her backwards several feet and onto the ground. Before she could recover from this attack, the spectral pests started swarming around her like before. Danielle still couldn't Go Ghost or even turn properly intangible to escape them. But with a few self-defense techniques enhanced with secret, ectoplasmic explosions from her hands, she was able to keep them away from her. However, having gone through this once before back in the cave, she knew that without her full strength back, she wouldn't be able to hold out for long.

Seeing his young friend being attacked, Wulf got off of Freakshow and went at his ghostly assistant tackling her from behind. The force of it carried both of the ghosts right over Danielle who was still on the ground. Wulf rolled as he hit the ground several feet behind the girl and letting go of Lydia who flew a few feet further away. Now turning her attention to the ghostly canine, she recalled her tattoo minions away from Danielle and sent them all after him. Lydia was no longer afraid of the giant dog, now that she's battled with him before, but Wulf was still a ferocious fighter, thus evening out the score.

Danielle took advantage of the cloaked ghost's averted attention, and as the two engaged in an all out, head-to-head battle, she quickly ran towards Danny again.

The clone hybrid was just about to the circle of Blood Blossoms when she was suddenly grabbed by the arm and yanked away by Freakshow. Wrapping his arm around her neck, he held up a burning stick within her eyesight that he must have gotten from the fire pit when Wulf had let him up.

Danielle tried to pull the man's strong arm off of her, as he said, "Nice try, girl. But you and your pet will not be robbing me of my vengeance." Then he held the torch closer to her face.

Just as the girl felt the rush of heat blowing on her skin, she stamped on the man's foot, and elbowed him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. The counter-attack caused him to drop the flaming stick, and loosen his grip around his victim.

After freeing herself of the ringmaster's hold, the young girl faced her cousin's foe, and grabbed him by the collar of his dark coat. She then rolled backwards, onto the dry, grassy ground and used her foot to toss him right over her body. She used as much of her enhanced ghost-strength as she could bring out to throw the evil man as far behind her as possible. Her effort paid off, for he landed head first and hard in an empty cage-car of the train that seemed to have been left open.

Just after he landed on the floor of the train car, Danielle got up from the ground and rushed over to the cage he was thrown in. "And _you're_ not robbing a family of the person you just so happen to want to take your vengeance on." She said forcefully, as she slammed the cage-gate shut, and it automatically locked the clown-faced man inside.

Danny's friends and family looked at the girl, stunned. Sam looked over at Tucker with an equally surprised but confused look, asking and indicating the mid-teenager, "Um…do we know this kid?"

"I don't think so, but she totally rocks." Tucker responded, smiling and looking rather impressed.

But the admiration of the unknown teen's performance by all was cut short by Jazz. "Oh no. Danny!" She suddenly shouted from her own cage.

Danielle turned towards Danny in hearing the urgency in his sister's voice, and gasped to see that the torch Freakshow had accidentally dropped had set the dry grass underneath it on fire, right next to where Danny's now limp figure was bound to the wooden post.

The flames extended fast to the circle of Blood Blossoms and the red flowers themselves soon caught fire.

"No! My Blood Blossoms!" Freakshow cried from the cage he was now locked in.

"Well that's what you get for playing with fire, huh?" Danielle said to him, angrily. It was _Danny_ she was concerned about and not the ringmaster's precious flowers. She once again sped over to the ring of Blood Blossoms.

The flames were spreading quickly and even though they were destroying the Blood Blossoms, the flames climbed higher and were moving dangerously close to Danny as well.

Danielle reached the circle, but when she tried to step through the vapor-wall, it stopped her as if it were made of brick and stung her the way it was already doing to Danny. She was forced back and she fell to the ground from the sudden rush of pain. Moaning a bit, she sat up, shaking her head to clear it.

Well, this was perfect. Even in her human form and a lot of her ghost powers depleted, she still couldn't get through to help her cousin without killing herself as well.

Danielle didn't know if a ghost could be destroyed by fire, but considering Danny was only _half_-ghost, the spectral cuffs neutralized his powers, and the Blood Blossoms had already weakened him extensively, there as little chance that he was going to be able to survive a burning.

Freakshow must have realized this too, because he started laughing hysterically from the cage. His destructive anti-ghost remedy may be going, but they had already done enough of a number on the ghost-boy that the fire would simply finish the job. It wasn't the exact 1600's Salem custom that he wanted to use to finish his ghostly enemy, but he was finished just the same with the way accused witches were punished back in the Witch Trials. Freakshow laid his head back and watched pleasurably as the world's ghost hero disappeared behind the growing flames.

"NO!"

"Danny!"

"Somebody, do something!"

His loved ones called out from their cages.

Danielle stood up and backed away from the flames, watching helplessly as they continued to grow bigger and spread more quickly. By now, the Blood Blossoms were destroyed, but Danielle still couldn't go intangible and remain in that state long enough to save her still dying cousin.

Wulf had seen what was happening while still fighting Lydia. With a thunderous roar, he slashed down the remainder of her little minions and threw the cloaked woman back as well.

Danielle watched in shock as her canine ghost-friend then charged on all fours straight at the burning area with another load roar. Everyone gasped in horror as he leaped right into the heart of the blazing inferno.

The flames had become so thick, no one could see what was happening inside. Everyone stood by, watching with growing anxiety. No one could tell what was happening inside the fire and they couldn't hear anything over the roar of the huge flames.

A few seconds passed that seemed like several minutes and just when Danielle was starting to expect the worst, Wulf suddenly burst back out of the bonfire on the other side. In his teeth, he was carrying the limp figure of the half-ghost teenager by the collar of his black-and-white jumpsuit, as if carrying a young cub.

Danielle, Sam and Tucker all sighed in relief at the sight of the doglike specter. As Wulf gently set the boy down on his hands and knees, Danielle rushed over to both of them. As soon as she girl reached Danny's side, he collapsed the rest of the way to the ground.

The young girl knelt next to her ghost-cousin's immobile figure and gently rolled him onto his back. She gasped at the sight of his face.

He was covered with severe burns and ash, and his clothes were letting off smoke where they had nearly caught fire. His eyes were closed and aside from his coughing from the smoke he had just emerged from, his breathing came in small, wheezing gasps.

Danielle inserted an arm under his neck and carefully lifted his head up from the ground. If he looked this bad on the _outside_, She couldn't imagine what the Blood Blossoms had done to the rest of him. Solemnly looking over her cousin's marred appearance, she removed the spectral cuffs from his wrists, which Wulf must have been able to unlink with his strong and sharp claws while in the fire.

Danielle looked up at Wulf in concern and noticed that his black fur was singed in several places. Now that she thought about it, Wulf also seemed to be a bit exhausted. She then wondered if the flames he had bravely jumped into to save a friend in peril had still been laced with what was left of the red vapor from the Blood Blossoms.

Even though Wulf was obviously still strong and functional, Danielle looked sadly at the multiple injuries of both her cousin and her dog-like friend. She couldn't help but feel that this was her fault. Had she been able to use her intangibility power properly, she could have gone in herself. Or perhaps if she didn't have _any_ of her powers back at all, she would have registered as completely human and would have been able to pass through the flower circle without injuring herself and before the flames had spread too far.

Wulf started sniffing Danny's wounds, and when he licked one of the burns on his forearm, the teenage boy shuddered from the apparent sting the wet tongue caused and quickly pulled it away.

In seeing this reaction, Mr. Fenton called from the cage, in angered warning "Hey! You keep away from my son, ghost monster!"

"Don't worry Mr. Fenton, he's a _friendly_ ghost." Sam quickly said, in reassurance. "It's okay."

"_That_ isn't." Tucker put in, indicating the fire that Danielle had just remembered was still spreading. The flames were now higher than the train and had made their way towards the tracks, dangerously close to where the prisoners were. The hostages retreated to the backs of their cages, shielding their faces from the heat of the fire that drew ever nearer.

Danielle tried to think fast of what to do and looked down at her hurt cousin as his eyes seemed to flicker open, just a bit.

Turning his head in the direction where his friends and family were in danger, Danny slowly raised a shaking hand. When he seemed like he couldn't hold it up, Danielle, not knowing what he was trying to do, used her own free hand to support it for him.

He squinted as if trying to focus and aim when a blue aura appeared around his elevated hand.

A second later, a beam of blue energy shot from his palm at the base of the fire. The clone girl watched in awe as the ground around the fire froze solid. The heat of the inferno melted the icy surface but the remaining water helped to smother the flames even more. Danielle felt Danny's body tense up as he struggled to keep the icy power coming and extend it to all edges of the burning area. Before long, the fire was completely extinguished and what had already been burnt to ashes was blanketed in a moist and slushy surface.

Danielle stared in awe at what had just happened. "How did he do that?" She asked herself. But before she could think of anything else, she felt Danny's body go completely limp in her arms.

Danny had made a last exertion to keep his loved ones out of danger, even with his already extensively weakened state. He may have become so weak he could barely keep his extended arm up, but as long as his heart was still beating, he was determined that he was not going to allow any harm to come to the people he most cared for.

Danielle felt her admiration for him grow even more as she thought of the noble effort her cousin always put in to protect the needing.

But the time of appreciation would have to wait. In seeing Danny going unconscious, his relatives concern for him grew even more. "You've got to get him out of here. Now." Tucker said to the girl urgently through the bars.

Danielle looked up at the teenage mayor, somewhat surprised. "But what about _you_ guys?"

"Worry about _him_." Sam argued, indicating Danny. "He needs help."

Looking back down at Danny's motionless form, Danielle knew that they were right.

Tucker started speaking to Wulf in some weird language and Wulf nodded in acknowledgment. "Wait. So you know his language?" Danielle asked in surprise.

"Nevermind that." Jazz argued, though she seemed as perplexed as Danielle was that Tucker could talk to this ghost-beast. "Just get Danny away from here. Away from Freakshow."

"You will do no such thing." Said a forceful voice behind them. Danielle looked behind her to see Freakshow, standing a few yards away, holding a ring of keys that he must have used to get out of the cage she had locked him in.

The Fentons looked at the young girl who was still holding their son in her arms, expecting to see her surprised and maybe even a little scared, but she presented them with yet another surprise. She raised an eyebrow at the keys and said skeptically to the ringmaster, "Um…if you had those the whole time, why didn't you just unlock yourself before?"

Freakshow ignored the question and put the keys inside his coat. "Now give back the boy." He demanded.

Danielle allowed Wulf to scoop Danny's unconscious form into his massive front paws and she stood up, facing Freakshow, and stepping forward defiantly. "Make me." She said softly but with much determination.

"Or perhaps 'make someone _else_ make you'?" The ringmaster said, repeating the girl's exact words. He snapped his fingers and Lydia suddenly phased through the ground in front of the teenage girl.

Danielle stepped backward from the unexpected appearance, but she was ready for her this time. Before the woman could send out her mobile body art again, Danielle leapt at her and yanked the ghost's hood down in front of her face so she couldn't see.

Immediately after, the young girl grabbed the ghost woman by the collar of her cape and swung her around, throwing her at the train and the two cage-cars that held Freakshow's prisoners. The cloaked ghost hit the place where the lock on one of the cages was and the Ghost Trap that Danny had originally been kept inside was triggered.

"Whoa. What the…" Danielle exclaimed, surprised at what just happened. She watched, wide eyed for a second as the cloaked ghost pounded angrily on the walls of the dome and even rammed into them as if trying to phase through them.

The young girl laughed when she realized that Lydia was stuck in the blue energy dome. "What a lucky break." She said, folding her arms. "I didn't even know that was there."

She smiled mockingly at Freakshow, who looked stunned at first at the fact that this little girl had just defeated his ghost counterpart. But then his expression changed to a hateful one and he suddenly lunged at her.

Danielle just dodged most of herself out of the way and turned the rest of herself that couldn't make it intangible.

Freakshow flew right passed her and fell flat on his face on the black, cold, and wet ground that was the result of Danny's ice power putting the fire out. The ringmaster got up on his hands and knees, finding his whole front drenched from the ground. His captives laughed at his disgusted look as he tried to shake some excess slush and damp ash off of him.

Danielle quickly concealed something behind her back before he turned his head to look menacingly at her.

He growled at the girl who had successfully defied him several times now, through gritted teeth, but the ghost-girl simply scoffed, shaking her head at the ringmaster's expression. "Please. Wulf can do _way_ better than that." And Wulf did. He made his own growl at Freakshow, who instantly scooted away in fear of the beast.

Everyone laughed again at this reaction and while their captor was preoccupied with the frightening distraction, Danielle took the chance to quickly toss something through the bars of the cage that Danny's family occupied. His sister was the one who caught it before the ghostly teenager rushed over to Wulf. He had already bent down for her to mount and had laid Danny across his broad shoulders.

"No, get back here." Freakshow protested angrily as the ghost-girl climbed onto the big dog's back behind where Danny was carefully placed. He stood up, dripping with dark water as Danielle looked down at him from her perch. "Unless you return that boy, I've got some plans with his family." He said pointing to the cages where his hostages were being held.

At this, Danielle hesitated. She couldn't just give Danny back to the man who was going to kill him, but she couldn't just leave his loved ones in the hands of possibly the same fate.

But as she tried thinking this through, Jazz just started laughing. "Plans? Like what?" she said to Freakshow. "Making weird clown-faces at us? Or maybe slopping us with that muck you're already covered in?"

Danielle was a bit surprised at this reaction of Danny's sister's, but when she looked back at Freakshow for an explanation, he was just looking to the side as if seeking an answer, himself. Jazz then directed her speech to the girl on the ghost-dog's back. "Trust me. It's happened before. When it comes to interrogation of the people he's only using as leverage, he's hopeless." She said this, shaking her head with a smile and folding her arms (also hiding the thing Danielle had tossed to her just now.)

With this reassurance, Danielle looked back down at Freakshow, smiling. "Well then, in that case, I'll just take my leave." She said to him with a mocking bow from on the back of her hairy friend.

"No!" Freakshow ran at them, but Wulf snapped his powerful jaws at the man and he fell backwards into the wet, blackened area again in fright.

Danielle took one last look at Danny's still captive loved ones. "Don't worry. We'll take care of him." She said reassuringly, putting a gentle hand on Danny who was laid in front of her. Then, hanging on to him, making sure he was on securely enough, she braced herself and Wulf sped off.

Freakshow cried out in angered frustration as he watched the giant spectral beast carry the kids far away, and fast.

This was not happening to him. He was not going to allow a child and her pet defy him of his vengeance that he was already so close to obtaining.

He quickly got up and rushed over to where the Ghost Trap had Lydia contained, pulled out the respective remote and deactivated it. Tucker looked at him with a raised eyebrow the same way Danielle had when she saw him with they keys. "Man. You really _are_ slow with that, aren't you?" He said. For yet again, even though Freakshow had the control to unlock everything within proximity of the train, he seemed to have forgotten to use it.

Freakshow just glared at the young mayor. "Come Lydia." He said, as the dome around his ghost partner vanished. "Let us retrieve the subject of my revenge."

"You're going after them? And _Wulf_?" Sam said with a laugh. "You're toast."

"We'll see." Freakshow responded as Lydia put an arm around his waist. The two of them kicked off from the ground and flew after their escaping enemies.

As they flew out of sight, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton looked on in the direction their son was being carried off to safety but pursued by his foe. "Do you think he'll be all right?" Maddie asked, sounding rather worried.

"Oh, don't worry Mrs. Fenton." Tucker said with confidence.

"Yeah. That ghost-dog is a good friend of his. He'll protect him well enough." Sam put in with a reassuring nod.

"And who was that girl _with_ the ghost-dog?" Jack asked in wonder.

"I'm not sure." Sam responded, looking off in the direction they had disappeared to. "But I wonder how she came across him. Not to mention made _friends_ with him." Sam put a hand on her chin in thought. In addition to the question of how Wulf could have become a good acquaintance of a young human girl like that, She also couldn't help but wonder why the girl didn't seem to be able to bypass the Blood Blossoms. Humans could definitely touch them and be just fine. Unless…

"Yeah." Tucker said, interrupting her thoughts. "And you know, come to think of it, her witty banter sort of sounded like Danny's."

Like Danny's? Could it be that that girl was his cousin?

"Well, whoever she is," Jazz began. "She's really good at slight-of-hand techniques." When Tucker, Sam and her parents looked at her, expecting her to clarify, she took out the thing the girl had tossed to her before she took off with her injured brother.

None of them saw it when this happened, but when Freakshow had lunged himself at Danielle, she had secretly turned part of herself intangible. As Freakshow was coming at her, she had purposely run her insubstantial hand through his chest and grabbed his key ring as she dodged out of the way. She successfully phased it right out from his back as he was passing her on his way to the ground.

While he was face down in the wet ashes and being laughed at, Danielle had pulled out the folded note Freakshow had previously written for Danny. She wrote a quick note of her own on the front of it, and attached it to they keys. In the next chance she got, she had tossed the key ring to Jazz.

Now Jazz presented it to the other captives, twirling the ring around on her finger with a smile.

"Wow! She really _does_ rock!" Tucker said triumphantly, as everyone's spirits suddenly lifted at the sight of the keys.

"And now that Freakshow and his freaky ghost assistant have gone to try and get Danny back, we can all make our _own_ escape." Jack specified.

"We'll also be able to find Danny after escaping." Jazz informed. And she took out the note Danielle had attached to it. Scribbled on the front of the folded piece of paper in hurried handwriting were the words,

_Woods of Lake Eerie. _

"And we can use the train to get there." Maddie said happily, after reading the note out load to everyone.

Everyone nodded in agreement as Jazz stood up, walked over to the lock of the cage, and gladly started putting the keys to use.

000000

Meanwhile, as Wulf sped on all fours with the two teenage hybrids on his back, Lydia and Freakshow were gaining on them.

Danielle had Wulf running in the direction of Amity Park to throw them off their real intention of heading back to the woods, but if she didn't find a way to lose them, the plan wouldn't work.

Wulf was fast, but he had the weight of two teenagers slowing him down and Lydia was smaller and could fly. She was now yards behind them, carrying the cruel ringmaster. If she got any closer, she would be able to send all of her tattoos after them at once and Danielle already knew that without the full extent of her powers, she'd never be able to fight them off. Wulf wouldn't be able to help either since he was busy running at his full speed.

She looked behind her to see them closing in and seeing the menacing smile on the cloaked ghost's face, Danielle just knew that she would wipe it off if her powers were as defective as hers were.

Wait a minute. Powers. Defective. The ghost-power stopping device she found at the Fenton Works lab. Danielle had been so concerned about helping Danny, she had completely forgotten about the gadget she had at her waist.

She looked behind her as Lydia and Freakshow started coming up alongside them. For some reason, Lydia wasn't sending her tattoos after them, even though they were more than close enough now. Danielle guessed that she already knew that they'd be able to catch them without using that power.

The cloaked ghost carried her master and they were now level with Wulf's mount. Freakshow reached out a hand at Danny, attempting to reclaim him, but his younger cousin was not about to let that happen.

She executed a sidekick from where she was, being careful to keep her balance on the great animal's back. The kick pushed both of the flying villains away. Now was the chance. Danielle unclipped the badly named device from her side and just as the two were closing in for another attempt to take the ghost-boy, she pointed it at Lydia. _Lets see how __**she**__ likes it when she can't use her powers._ Danielle thought, and she pressed the fire button on the back of the gun-like device.

The girl hybrid's aim was true and it delivered a direct hit at her pursuers. The shot forced them back and the cloaked ghost accidentally dropped Freakshow who rolled as he hit the ground. Lydia, also crashed from the shock of the blast.

Just as the clown-faced ringmaster and his ghost assistant recovered from the fall, Danielle gave her signal to Wulf. Freakshow watched from his hands and knees as the trio went intangible and dove head first through the ground. "NO!" He cried out as they disappeared. "Hurry. Stop them." He ordered Lydia.

Now, Lydia sent her tattoos forth and as they reached the place where the three had phased underground, they dove. But instead of phasing after the ghosts as expected, they all crashed into a heap on the grassy surface.

Looking extremely surprised at this happening, Lydia quickly ran over to the same spot to try and dive through the ground herself. But she couldn't go intangible and she hit her face on the hard, dry ground.

Freakshow rushed over to where she was as she shook her head to clear it. "What happened?" He asked angrily. Lydia simply shrugged up at him from on her knees. It was then that he realized that the device the girl had used must have short-circuited her powers: Or at least _some_ of them, because her tattoos seemed to still work. Nonetheless, her special power couldn't be used to continue the pursuit of his escaped captive.

Freakshow let out a shout of frustration and went down on his knees, pounding his fists on the surface where dog and his teenage passengers had disappeared, as if attempting to break through and follow. But as much as he sometimes wished he was, he was no ghost. And the ghost he had with him couldn't even use the power he needed to do such a task. Even if she could, by now they were long gone. Lydia's tattoos could be used for teleportation, but without knowing where the teenagers and their dog-friend were going, it was no use in trying it.

He eventually gave up the thought of catching them and turned to go back to his circus train. They were quite a ways away from it from chasing the ghost dog and his friends and Lydia could no longer fly. At least she still had her other means of fast transportation.

The cloaked woman released her tattoos again and they circled around her and her master and they vanished. But instead of being back at the train, Freakshow found that they were just in some other random place on the empty plains. Lydia tried again, but they just seemed to get further from the train in another place that wasn't even along the path to it. At first Freakshow just thought that his was a joke of Lydia's, but then he remembered that beam that stopped her normal powers from working. It must have also scrambled the more powerful effects of her special ability.

They would have to walk unless they wanted to accidentally end up in a swamp or something. As Freakshow reluctantly started doing so, he started to think how it could have been possible that the girl had found the train in the first place. No doubt she had assistance from that canine pet of hers. He also found it strange how she could have been that strong when she threw him into the cage. As he thought about it, he also remembered that she couldn't seem to go near the Blood Blossoms. But she was a human and Blood Blossoms don't affect humans. Could she perhaps have been…? Nah. That was ridiculous. She probably was just afraid of the fire that was already dangerously close to the person she was attempting to help.

He still couldn't believe that she was able to slip through his fingers. But he had another thought that cheered him up. Even if the girl did manage to find help for the Phantom boy, he would have to be back to retrieve his family. And when he returned, Freakshow would just have another trick waiting for him.

He smiled at this and looked up where his train could be seen at a distance. As long as he had his hostages, he still had the leverage he needed to get his revenge. As he looked at the train though, he noticed that it was in a different place than he remembered it when he first started walking. "Wait. Is my train…moving?" He asked, turning to Lydia for her opinion.

But hearing the train-whistle blow answered his question. It _was_ moving. But how? _He_ was the only driver of that train since his Circus Gothica show was canceled after his arrest. His prisoners must have escaped and were using it. But that wasn't possible. Unless.

He quickly reached inside his coat for his key ring…but couldn't find it. In searching the rest of his pockets, he realized that his keys were gone. "That thieving little brat!" He cried out. "She's stolen my keys!"

His hate for the girl increased even more as he watched his train speed up, faster and faster along the tracks. There was no way he would be able to catch it. Not without Lydia being able to fly or teleport properly with her tattoos. Even if they could catch them, there was little he or Lydia could do that they wouldn't expect. The Fenton's would undoubtedly have their ghost-hunting gear back that Freakshow had confiscated from them when the captured them.

He could do nothing but stand there as his chances for his revenge slipped away from him completely. Or did it. "Lydia. You can still use your tattoos." Lydia nodded in response and sent some of her bat-shaped tattoos after the train.

The last time Freakshow had escaped from jail, Lydia had used these same tattoos to monitor Danny Phantom and his friends, making sure they did what he wanted and knew when they were completed with the task.

The tattoos themselves were basically a part of the woman ghost. So wherever the train was going, Lydia would know. And if all went well, Freakshow might just have his revenge on Danny Phantom, after all.

_**I couldn't find any better way to end it.**_

_**To tell you the truth, I was a bit concerned about putting in the fire part, but it was the best thing I could come up with in getting Danny out of the Blood Blossom circle. I'm not exactly sure if it worked out for you readers. Let me know what you guys think in your reviews, please. And thanks for you're support when I was first posting this on my sister's account.**_


	10. Ghost Recovery

_**This chapter was a little difficult to write and Blackjay has been working on her story **__**The Other Prophecy**__** and I act as her editor for that. She wanted me to look over her stuff before doing anything else with my fanfic. **_

**Chapter 10: Ghost Recovery**

After traveling long and hard through the ground while intangible, Wulf finally phased back up to the surface in the Woods of Lake Eerie. As soon as the green clad dog had become solid again, he slumped down to the ground from complete exhaustion. Danielle had to stop Danny from sliding off of the great dog's back from the sudden collapse.

She felt for the beast, patting him on his back in comfort. She was so astounded at how far he was able to carry both herself and Danny's still motionless body, even after fighting Lydia and getting Danny out of the Blood Blossom laced fire.

She slid off of the ghost-dog's back and knelt next to where his head was resting on the ground. After stroking his head in a gesture of "well done" she wrapped her arms around his furry neck, giving him a warm hug. "Thank you, Wulf. So much." She whispered to her canine friend. Wulf, although completely worn out, smiled and wagged his tail in appreciation.

When the young girl let go of him, she looked around to see where exactly in the woods they had landed. They had phased back up through the ground next to a lake, in a deserted campsite whose cabins were extremely old and dull looking. Most of the roofs of the cabins had holes in them and the windows were broken. A fire-pit could be seen nearby, circled by fallen logs that would have been used to sit on if anyone else was there. There was an old wooden sign that Danielle could see that said _Camp Skull and Crossbones on beautiful Lake Eerie_.

After reading this sign, Danielle looked at the gray water of the lake. There was fog around it, giving it a look that was far from 'beautiful.' In fact, the overall appearance of the whole campsite with Lake Eerie, ironically made her think it was haunted.

Still, the camp may not have looked like much, but they couldn't take Danny back to Wulf's cave. Not with Lydia already knowing where it was, and with a battle with her had taken place there last time. At least here, they were now out of reach of Freakshow and could attend to Danny.

Danielle pulled her unconscious cousin off of Wulf's back as carefully as she could. Wulf pulled himself up after the weight of his burden was removed. Being careful of his burns, the ghost-girl then raised one of Danny's limp arms up and around her shoulders and wrapped her spare arm around the back of his waist. She then hoisted him up and started to carry him to one of the cabins that had a sign that said _First Aid_ on it with red letters and the red medical cross. Her ghost-enhanced strength made it easier to carry the injured boy's flaccid body.

When she got to the door, seeing it would be difficult to try and open the door while trying to support Danny at the same time, she thought it would be a good idea to test how well her intangibility was coming along. Focusing, she strained herself slightly to turn the both them intangible. She managed to spread the insubstantial state all through both of their bodies and she stepped through the door.

It worked this time. And not just for her, but also for someone she was sharing the power with. Her intangibility was now fully recovered along with her invisibility. The ghost teen had no doubt that if her plasma ray wasn't yet fully returned as well, it certainly would be soon: Along with her ability to Go Ghost and fly.

The cabin she just phased into was made up of one room, with a table set in the center. Along one of the walls were some medicine cabinets and drawers. Next to the broken window on the opposite side of the room was a lopsided bed with a gray blanket that was folded and placed at the foot of the bed that looked rather familiar. It only took a second for Danielle to remember the blanket she had woken up with that morning, back in Wulf's cave. This campsite must have been where he had found it, as well as the pillowcase he had used to carry the fruit in.

After looking around the room, she said out loud, "well, it's not much. But it should do until you recover." She then carried Danny across the room and over to the bed where she laid him gently on top of it.

Danielle hoped the effects that the Blood Blossoms had done on his body would eventually wear off, now that they were destroyed and he was far away from them, but she would still have to do something about his burns.

She started browsing through the cabinets, trying to find something that would be helpful as an ointment. However, as she started to discover that the majority of the cabinets were empty, she started to lose hope.

She eventually came across some bandages that she could use, but she still couldn't find any kind of medicine that would help with burns as severe as Danny's. Even if she c_ould_ find something, she doubted there would be enough, seeing that most of the cabinets she had already searched were mostly vacant of any such thing.

She started searching the drawers below the medicine cabinets. In one of them, she found an old book called _101 Uses for Nature's Plants_ that she carelessly tossed aside, to dig deeper into the drawers. "Come on. This is a First Aid cabin. There has to be _something_ here." She said aloud, with her desperation growing.

When she could find nothing else but the bandages and a few bottles of pills for colds and other minor illnesses, Wulf soon phased through the wall of the cabin, carrying something in his front paws. "What's that, Wulf?" Danielle asked him.

Wulf remained silent as he approached the table and deposited a very large handful of a variety of berries on it. "Oh, I'm not hungry right now." She said to him. "And I don't think Danny's really in any condition to…" But Wulf shook his head and pointed a clawed finger at Danielle's side where she had been hurt the night before after being attacked by the men in white suits. Rubbing where her wound was, she remembered the dark stuff that had been put on it. "Wait, is this the same healing stuff you used for _me_?" She asked, indicating the berries. Wulf smiled, nodding.

He must have gotten these for Danny this time. But how was she supposed to use them? Just mash them together? Wait. Danielle remembered the book she had found in the drawer that she had thrown aside. She picked it up off the dusty floor and started searching through the pages trying to see if it said anything about berries. She found one. A healing recipe made up of a mixture of certain kinds of berries. As she read off the list of ingredients needed, she saw that Wulf had gotten the exact ones the recipe called for, in addition to a few other kinds.

"You're brilliant, Wulf." She said happily, setting the old book on the table at the page where the berry recipe was. "But how did you learn about this?" She asked, wondering how he had put together the berry mixture for her in the cave without the book. Wulf responded by taking out the photo of Danny and his friends that was given to him and pointed out Sam in it. From this, Danielle came to the conclusion that Sam must have taught him. Or at least used it on _him_ once, judging that Wulf had brought back more of a variety of the berries than was needed for the recipe. Maybe he just remembered a lot of what the berries looked like. Well, either way, there may not be any ointment for Danny's burns in the medicine cabinets, but now Danielle had what she needed to make her own. This recipe may or may not be the same thing Sam used, but Sam wasn't here at the moment. The book was. And right now, it would do.

Danielle went to work in making the healing ointment. She found a small pot in the kitchen of the Mess Hall and a tap outside that seemed to be newly installed, which she used to wash the berries under. Then after rigging a stand to hang the pot above the fire pit, she gathered together some dry wood and lit a small fire underneath the hanging cauldron that was now filled with water.

Following the recipe in the book, she then started dropping the specified berries into the pot, allowing them to boil in the water until they were soft. With the stirring spoon she had also found in the kitchen, she mashed the berries until they had mixed together into a consistent, dark-purple paste. Then she removed the pot from the fire to cool off. The recipe was quite simple to follow, considering the only thing it needed were the berries. Now all she had to do was wait for the mixture to cool down and then she could put it on Danny's wounds.

While the paste cooled, Danielle felt it would be a good time to check her powers.

She stood up after setting the pot down, away from the fire pit, and closed her eyes to find the center of her power. The search inside herself didn't take nearly as long this time. The spark that triggered her powers was right there as if she had never lost track of it in the first place.

Her hope still rising, she took that little spark and harnessed it. A white ring of light expanded from her waist, split in into two rings, which moved across her slender figure in their own directions.

She opened her eyes as the quick transformation completed and looked down at herself. To her great delight, she found that her modern-day outfit was replaced with her black-and-white Phantom suit. Her hair had turned to the snow-white, and even though she couldn't see her own eyes, she had no doubt that they had also changed from the blue human ones to the glowing green.

"Yes!" She said, happily. "I can Go Ghost again."

Getting excited, she proceeded to test the rest of her powers. She already knew invisibility was fully operational a while ago because she was able to use it properly to approach the circus train and sneak up on Freakshow before sending Wulf after him. She tried it anyway, though, just for the joy of being able to fully use it again.

She also knew that intangibility was fully functional because she was able to get both herself and Danny through the door of the cabin without getting stuck. It may have come back a bit late, but at least she was able to use it to an extent that still helped during the fight against Freakshow and Lydia: like slipping Freakshow's keys right out of his coat, completely unnoticed. She wondered if he knew they were missing yet. If he even figured out that she had stolen them. She giggled at the thought of his reaction if he did.

Continuing on, she ignited her hands with the green energy of the plasma ray, building it up, not feeling anything holding her back this time. Now that she could Go Ghost again, the girl could finally fully charge and shoot the spectral energy from her palm that she aimed at a nearby tree. The focused ray shot a hole right through the trunk. "Plasma-ray: check." She said to herself, feeling the energy within her flow without getting scrambled up.

Now, for a flight test. She jumped into the air and successfully hovered above the ground for a few seconds. She then bolted off at full speed away from the fire pit and zoomed all around the campsite. She felt the fresh, cool air flow past her face and through her long hair as she sped above the lake. She was no longer grounded either, and boy, did it feel wonderful. Riding on Wulf's back was fun, but she just had to say that being able to fly again felt much better. She had her own speedy means of travel back. Not having to depend on anyone else to get somewhere fast.

She rose into the air until she floated a few yards above the surface of the lake and spotted a big boulder on the shore. She flew to the shore, touched down next to the rock that was much bigger than she was, and with her now fully usable ghost-strength, she lifted the heavy boulder above her head and tossed it far out into the lake where it hit the water with a huge splash. "Super-strength: check." She said with a smile, rubbing her hands together, congratulating herself.

Then she saw a deer coming out of the woods on the other side of the lake. At that moment, Danielle remembered that there was one more power she still hadn't tested out yet. She hardly ever used her ability to overshadow, but it still wouldn't hurt to just be sure it was working properly, along with the rest of her powers.

Turning invisible, she flew across the lake towards the deer that was quietly making its way to the gray lake, probably to get a drink. Danielle reached the deer and phased right into its body just before it lowered its head to the water, taking complete control of the animal. "I wouldn't drink that, if I were you," Danielle said, through the deer's own mouth.

Now in full command of the deer's body, she used its own feet to walk the animal back into the woods where she soon found a stream that was much clearer than the lake was. Not to mention looked safer to drink from. "Here you go. You'll like this much better." She said, using the deer's mouth to speak again and stopping it right in front of the stream. The ghost-girl flew out of the deer's body, still invisible, and watched it as it looked confused for a second at where it now was. But when it discovered the clear stream in front of it, it didn't seem to mind the fact that it had remembered being by a different body of water just a minute ago. It lowered its head down and started drinking from the stream.

"Overshadowing: check." Danielle said to herself, as she flew back to the camp.

She landed next to the fire pit again and changed back into her human form.

Her powers were now fully recovered. But as she looked back to at the First Aid cabin where Danny was, she still wished she had gotten them back sooner. Better yet, if she hadn't lost them at all.

Looking up at the sky, she noticed that it was starting to get dark. Getting some water from the lake, she poured it over the fire she had lit to heat the berries, putting it out. She didn't want the light of the fire attracting unfriendly eyes like those ghost-hunters in white suits…or Freakshow. Though, now that she thought about it, keeping the fire going might actually help Danny's family to find them. In the note she left with the keys, she didn't really have time to specify _where_ in the woods they would be.

Still, in the condition Danny was in right now, she couldn't take that risk of unwanted kinds of people finding him. The Fentons and Danny's friends would have to find him on their own, once they arrived at the edge of the woods.

Danielle checked the berry mixture and after finding that it had cooled to a soothingly warm temperature, she decided it was time to use it. She picked up the pot, and walked back to the First Aid cabin with it.

In entering the cabin, she found that Wulf had curled up in a corner near the bed and had fallen asleep. Danielle smiled at the way he reminded her of the tamed, pet dog that anyone could keep in a household.

After what Wulf had done for both her and her ghostly cousin, Danielle felt that he definitely deserved nothing less than a good long rest. "Danny must be really lucky to have made a friend like you, Wulf." She said softly.

She walked across the room over to Danny's bedside and gently started rubbing the warm mixture on his injuries. As she applied the berries to the burns, the girl hybrid started to notice that Danny was wincing a bit. Apparently, it must have stung every time she touched his wounds with the wet substance, but it was a sign that he was slowly coming to.

Although this cheered Danielle up, she was still filled with sorrow by her older cousin's frail appearance. She couldn't even imagine the pain he must have gone through before she and Wulf had arrived. His family and friends being kidnapped, being held hostage himself while Amity Park was being invaded by hundreds of ghosts and then nearly killed by a most effective anti-ghost remedy that fire was later added to.

Had she gotten there sooner, she probably would have been able to prevent Danny from having to go through such torture. In fact, now she really wished she had decided to go to Amity Park earlier. Had she, she would have been able to help before Sam was even taken from the school. Or perhaps helped to track down Freakshow as soon as he broke out of jail. Then maybe none of this would have happened.

Danielle finished applying the healing mixture to Danny's burns and used the bandages she had found earlier to wrap them in. As she did this, she started to think that it must have been equally painful for his family and friends to watch as Danny was suffering through so much pain in so little time.

Speaking of his family, she wondered how they were doing. Night had fallen by now and they were still not here. How long has it been since escaping from Freakshow? Had it really already been hours since that time? Maybe Danny's relatives had already made it to the woods and were on their way here. Then again, what if their escape with the keys didn't work? What if the effects of the device Danielle used on Lydia only lasted a short time? She and Wulf didn't stay to see if it really was as effective as she had hoped.

She finished patching up her cousin's burns and then walked over to the window that was by the door. Sitting down in the chair that was next to it, the ghost-hybrid took out the gun-like gadget, twirling it around in her hands. She remembered the note that had been stuck to it, saying that the only problem was the special ability of the targeted ghost being stopped…unless it was just the number one concern about it. What if there were other problems besides? What if it was left behind because it wasn't just that one glitch, but too many others to have to deal with?

The very thought started to scare her. If the device only worked for long enough for her and Wulf to get away with Danny, then what if his family had been recaptured? If that was the case, even if Danny was feeling well enough soon, he would have to go back for them and risk getting caught again.

Wait. No. There was still hope that Danny's peers had gotten away. She was just assuming too much with the possibility of the device not working. Besides. It was probably just taking a bit long for them to get here because they didn't know where to find them in the woods that stretched the rest of the way to the mountains.

Propping her elbows on the windowsill, Danielle stared out into the darkness of the trees. Watching. Waiting. Any time they would probably come out from the giant cluster of trees to finally find Danny.

After a while of gazing out into the dark night, seeing nothing, she heard a soft moan from behind her and turned in Danny's direction to see him shift to a different position on the bed.

Danielle's spirits rose in seeing this happen. She noticed that he was breathing differently now, too. He must simply be sleeping now. He wouldn't have shifted on his own otherwise.

Danielle recalled how it had just taken overnight for her own wound to stop hurting so much because of the berries Wulf had brought her. Maybe it was working wonders with Danny as well, despite the severity of his many injuries.

The teenage hybrid made her way back to the bed, took the blanket that was folded at its foot and draped it over her healing cousin. Then, kneeling on the floor next to the bed, she propped her elbows on the mattress. Resting her chin on top of her hands, she looked into her older cousin's patched up face. Even though Danny had just gone through an experience he would probably never want to repeat, he now looked much more at peace.

Back at the train, when he had been tied to the wooden post with the flames surrounding him, Danielle had been so afraid that she was about to lose him. Thank goodness Wulf was with her while her powers were still defective.

Danny was safe now. Far out of harms reach, among friends, and now sleeping peacefully as he recovered. At the rate the berries were working, Danny would probably be on his feet again by morning. In addition, if all went well, his family and friends would soon be joining them.

_**Yay! Dani has her powers back! Finally! I'm sorry if this chapter was boring for you guys in comparison with some others that I've written. But to make up for the dullness of this chapter, I'll give you some additional information that you may find interesting.**_

_**I've tried putting hyperlinks on here that would lead to a web page I have on livevideo(dot)com but it never seemed to work. But if you want to see my design of the older Dani that practically inspired this whole story, you can go to my prophile and click on the livevideo link I have put there. C**__**lick on the "photos" tab and you'll find some pictures of my older Dani design that I've made. **_

_**If you want to, you can also check out a trailer I have posted for this story in the "Videos" section of my webpage. **_

_**Anyway. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The action with Freakshow isn't over yet. I promise. **_


	11. Family Reunions

**Chapter 11: Family Reunions**

Danielle woke up the next morning in feeling her hair being ruffled. She had fallen asleep over the side of Danny's bed. "Danielle?" She heard a voice saying softly, as she was gently shaken awake.

After a sleepy moan, the young girl raised her head and rubbed the drowsiness out of her eyes. After opening them, her weariness almost vanished and her face lit up as bright as the morning sun that was shining in through the window.

Danny was awake, sitting up in the bed and looking down at his little cousin with bright green eyes that were filled with the livelihood she remembered and knew full well. "I _knew_ I recognized you." The ghost-boy said with a bright smile of his own.

"Well, I'm glad _someone_ has without me having to give them hints." Danielle responded. Then she jumped up from the floor and threw her arms around Danny's neck, though still being careful of his bandages. "You're back!" She said happily, with a laugh.

"_You're_ back." Danny said, returning the hug. "I didn't think I'd be seeing _anyone_ again after what Freakshow was doing to me." Danielle felt tears of joy starting up in her eyes, but she managed to hold them back. "That was _you_ wasn't it?" Danny asked her, while still in the embrace. "You were the one supporting me, just before I blacked out."

"Mm-hmm." Danielle responded with a nod. When she finally pulled away, she asked with a bit of concern in her voice, "How are you feeling?"

"Much better than being in that Blood Blossom ring." Danny said, looking over his bandages. Then he took the time to look his clone cousin up and down. "Wow."

"What?" Danielle asked, feeling a bit awkward.

"You know, when I woke up, I didn't recognize you at _all_ at first." He said, "You're all…well…grown up."

"Yeah. Long time no see, huh?"

Danny slid off the bed and as soon as he was on his feet, the teenage girl just couldn't help giving him another tight hug. "Man. I almost thought you were a goner back there." She said, as Danny again returned her embrace, laughing from her enthusiasm.

"So did I."

The two ghost hybrids hadn't seen or even heard from each other since the last time Danielle had dropped by, and now after such a close call, they were happy to both still be alive. Danny backed away from his ecstatic clone, inserting his hands on her shoulders and looked into her face. "But I believe I have _you_ to thank for my salvation?" He asked.

"Well I…had some help." Danielle responded, looking in the corner where Wulf was still curled up, asleep. "Or…a _lot_ of it." she finished in retrospect.

Danny followed her gaze to where the sleeping ghost-dog was. "Whoa!" He jumped back, a little surprised to see the huge, furry mass. It was rather strange that he had missed it before. "Wulf?" He walked over and knelt on one knee next to the giant dog, and looking over his massive body, that even though was laying down was just about to Danny's own, full height. "Man. I forgot how big he was. And my parents say that _I've_ grown." He said.

"He told me he was a friend of yours." Danielle commented from behind him.

"Are you kidding? This guy and I go _way_ back." Danny patted the giant dog's black fur before starting to tell Danielle the story of how he had first met him.

Wulf had once been a prisoner of another one of the ghost-boy's spectral enemies named Walker. When Danielle asked, the male hybrid explained that Walker was the warden of the jail in the ghost zone that Danny had once escaped from. Wulf was a runaway prisoner that Walker had always tortured to do his bidding in trying to track Danny, so he could lock him up again. Danny helped Wulf to escape from the power-hungry jailer and they had been friends ever since: even though Wulf had ended up back in Walker's custody when the great dog purposely got in the way of a portable ghost-portal that was originally aimed at Danny while they were fighting Walker together.

Then Danny told his little cousin of how Wulf had later escaped the ghost-jail again, meeting Danny in this exact campsite. They had a chance to fight alongside each other again in order to help some other friends out. As soon as the job was done, Danny had set Wulf free.

So Wulf had also been working for someone against Danny, before. Just like how Danielle had once been working for Vlad. Yet just like how Danny had helped _her_, he was able to understand that Wulf was simply a slave who longed for freedom and went out of his way to help him. As a result of Danny's sympathy for the beast, despite his frightful appearance, he had made a very valuable friend that had now helped both Phantoms out of rough situations.

"But how did _you_ come across him?" Danny asked, as soon as he had finished his tale.

"He found _me._" His girl clone responded, crouching down beside him with her hands on her knees. "And just in the nick of time too." Then looking back at Danny, she commented, "I never really stuck around long enough to know what kind of company you keep, huh?"

"No. You were usually always…_flying off dramatically_." The two hybrids giggled at this.

"Well, anyway." Danielle began again. "Wulf has been helping me out quite a bit the last few days. When I got to Amity Park and found out that you were missing, he helped me to find you." A moment of silence came in which Danielle scoffed shaking her head at a recalling thought. "It's kind of funny actually, because all he had to do was sniff _me_ in order to pick up your trail that followed the train tracks. I think we must smell the same to him."

"Well I'm not surprised, really." Danny said, now scoffing himself. "I mean, you _are_ a clone of me. We probably have the same ecto-plasmic signature."

"Yeah. That's what I thought too." Danielle commented before going on with her tale of events, "When we found you at the train, Wulf was the one who jumped into the fire and saved you."

"Fire?" Danny said, looking slightly confused. He looked at his many bandages. "I _thought_ I remembered a fire before passing out." He said softly. "But I thought I might have been hallucinating or something. That the Blood Blossoms were inflicting so much damage on me, it was becoming external."

"Nope. Those were from the fire." Danielle said to him, nodding towards his wrapped burns.

After a second's pause of Danny looking between the sleeping dog and his little cousin, he asked, "But weren't you _afraid_ of Wulf when you first saw him? I mean…I know _I_ was."

"Oh, yeah. I was terrified." Danielle nodded vigorously. "But when I found out he actually saved me, I realized he must be okay."

"Wait. _Saved_ you?" Danny asked, after she said this. "From what?"

"Oh, right." Danielle responded, slapping her head in remembered that Danny didn't know about her power dilemma she had experienced. "Well, a couple nights ago I had a bit of a run-in with some ghost-hunters."

"What?" Danny sounded slightly taken aback at this news.

"Yeah." Danielle went on. "They had a device that completely drained my powers for the rest of the night. And even when it wore off, my powers were still on the fritz for a while. I was flying about a hundred feet above the woods when it happened too and it made me go unconscious." Danielle showed her older cousin where the device had hit her. Danny's eyes widened at the resulting scar. "Don't worry, I'm fine now." She said quickly after seeing the concern on Danny's face. "But, if it hadn't been for Wulf, I'd…" she hesitated before slowly saying the rest. "…I'd probably be getting dissected on another examination table." As the very thought entered her mind, she shuddered at the memory of being back in Plasmius' lab. Danny put a comforting hand on her shoulder when he saw this.

Then after a pause, he urged her on. "These ghost-hunters. What did they look like?"

Danielle bit her lower lip trying to remember. "Well…I didn't really see their faces. It was late at night when it happened, so it was pretty dark." After a second of thinking, she then recalled a few of the main things. "But they had these flying machines that they chased me in, and I _do_ remember that they were wearing these white suits and…"

"I knew it." Danny suddenly interrupted, and standing up. "The Guys in White."

"Huh?" Danielle said, completely confused.

"That's what they call themselves. They're a ghost-hunting agency that's funded by the government." Danny explained

"So, you know them?" the clone girl asked, now standing up, herself.

"Know them? They've been chasing me around since before you came along. They're also the number one reason I moved." Danny walked back over to the bed, looking out the window above it with his arms folded. "I knew they'd still be up to no good."

"What do you mean?"

"After the Disasteroid, even with my new reputation as a hero, there are some ghost-hunters out there who still have me listed as their number one target. The Guys in White must have attacked you, thinking it was me."

"But I thought the government was on _your_ side, now. Why would they still be funding people like that?"

"I never reported them." Danielle gave Danny a strange look before he turned back to her and explained, "After moving, I never ran into them again, so I felt I didn't need to." He shrugged defensively. "But…" Danny clenched a fist and hit the inside of his palm. "You let me know if they cause you any more trouble and I'll be sure to turn them in myself."

Danielle smiled with a nod of agreement. A few minutes of silence followed in which Danny stared back out the window and Danielle stared at the floor, thinking, when she remembered something she was wondering about. "Hey, Danny?"

"Hmm?" Danny turned to her again.

"Just before you passed out, you froze the ground to put out that fire." Then with a bit of awe in her voice she asked, "How did you do that?"

"Oh, yeah." Danny looked at his hands, laughing a little. "My ice power. My Phantom Phreeze, as I like to call it."

"How long have you had it?"

"I've _always_ had it. I just never knew I had it, or knew how to use it until another ghost friend of mine taught me how."

"Wait a minute, you're friends with _other_ ghosts besides Wulf?" Danielle said, completely changing the subject.

Danny scoffed at her question. "Well of course. I would have thought _you_ of all people would know that not all ghosts are evil."

After thinking on this for a second, Danielle had to admit that he was right. She let out a rather embarrassed laugh and shrugged. "All the ghost encounters the news talks about you having are just enemies."

"Well then, maybe you should stick around more often." Danny put in, giving her a suspicious smile.

He had a right to do so as well, as she was always running off before staying for very long. Danielle just returned the playful look, "In the condition _you're_ in right now, Danny, I plan on it."

After the two laughed together at the banter, Danielle looked down at her own hands. Another thought occurred to her that she then expressed to her respected peer. "That ice power." She began. "Do you think…since you and I are…practically the same…that maybe…_I_ might have it too?"

Danny considered this matter for a moment. "Hmm. I don't know." He finally said. "Vlad gave you your powers from secretly observing me using _mine_, right? And I didn't even _know_ about the ice power, _then_." But after a short pause Danny also said, "Then again, you just might. You _do_ have the ghost-sense."

"What does that have to do with it?" Danielle asked, with a bemused shrug.

"It's a part of my Phantom Phreeze. So if Vlad gave you enough cold energy to generate the ghost-sense, then maybe you can somehow harness that energy in other ways.

"But not in ways like putting out huge fires, like you did?" Danielle asked, a little disappointed.

Danny hesitated before admitting, "Probably not." But then he approached his little cousin and put his hand on her shoulder. "But, cheer up." He said. "You still have some things over me to make up for that."

"Like what?" Danielle asked, wondering how she could possibly have anything over the original person she was made from.

"Well, you're younger, more agile, have a better element of surprise on your side because no one knows you're half ghost yet, and you can use the powers that we both share in ways that I can't, like emitting ecto-ray charges from your feet, as _well_ as your hands."

Danielle felt flattered that he was able to name off so many things without even hesitating. She smiled, feeling a little better…though it still would be cool if she also had the Phantom Phreeze like Danny did.

Just as she started to daydream of the kinds of things she could do with a power that could freeze anything on contact like that, Wulf began to stir in the corner, waking up. The two cousin hybrids both looked in that direction just as Wulf opened his eyes and saw Danny.

The great dog's head immediately perked up with a joyful expression at the very sight of him, and then he suddenly jumped from his sleeping place and tackled Danny to the floor on his back.

As soon as he was down, Wulf wildly started sniffing him up and down and happily licking his face like a puppy that was glad to see its owner after coming home from a long vacation.

Danny laughed as the dog continued to move his muzzle all around him, tickling him with his nose. "Down boy. Down." Danny said playfully, and trying to push the giant dog's snout away. Considering Wulf's gigantic size, this was practically impossible.

Danielle couldn't help but laugh at the way the two looked, wresting on the floor. It was so amusing to her that she didn't bother trying to help getting Wulf to calm down.

After licking Danny's face several more times, Wulf finally got off of his long-last-seen teenage hero, saying a few words in his weird tongue.

"Yeah, it's great to see you too." Danny responded, sitting up.

"I _knew_ you might know his language?" Said the girl ghost, after she stopped laughing.

"Esperanto?" Danny said, looking up at her, while still sitting on the floor. "Nah. Only a bit." He told her, shaking his head. "It's _Tucker_ who understands Wulf best. And even _he_ struggles sometimes."

Suddenly at the mention of Tucker's name, both ghost-hybrids were hit by the same thought. "Wait. Tucker." Danny started to say, with urgency growing in his tone. "Sam. My family!"

Danny quickly scrambled to his feet. How could they not have even mentioned his relatives this whole time? His concern for their safety was the whole reason he had ended up in the state he was now in.

Danielle quickly ran up to her concerned cousin, grabbing his arms to calm him. "It's okay, Danny. I'm sure they're fine." When Danny didn't look very reassured, she added. "They'll be along."

Or would they? Danielle didn't see them coming all, last night and they certainly weren't here now. Even if they didn't know exactly where to look in the woods, they would surely have at least come around to check by now, especially if his friends had been to this campsite before. If they were taking this long, what if Freakshow _did_ still have them?

Just as Danielle was starting to think that this might be so, something suddenly came spinning through the broken window by the door and headed straight at the Phantoms. All three ghosts ducked in cover as the flying thing zoomed above their heads.

Straightening back up, they looked behind them to see what was trying to hit them as it circled around again.

To Danielle's astonishment, it suddenly stopped in midair, right between her and Danny. The flying thing seemed to be a metal boomerang with a little bit of green along the edges and a small, blinking light. The bent corner of the boomerang turned, pointing between the two hybrids as if confused on which direction to go in next. As it did this, Danielle's memory sparked. Hadn't she seen this somewhere before?

The light the boomerang had started flashing green as it pointed at Danny and began spinning rapidly again. Danny managed to dodge just as it started zooming at him. Wulf snapped his jaws at the flying piece of metal but it swerved out of reach of his teeth as the light started to blink red and circled back around, hitting Danny square on the back of the head.

"Ow!" The boy exclaimed, rubbing where it hurt, as the boomerang finally fell to the floor. "I have _got_ to get my dad to fix that." He said, looking angrily at the device that now lay motionless on the old wood panels they stood on.

Danielle bent down and picked it up to examine it. But she didn't really have to, because the gadget pelting Danny in the head like that, instantly reminded her of where she had seen it before. "Hey, isn't this the thing that smacked _Vlad_ in the head just before…" Her question was interrupted by the sound of distant voices calling Danny's name from outside.

Almost instantly recognizing them, the cousin hybrids looked at each other with growing excitement and then rushed to the broken window that the Boo-marang had flown through.

Their expressions glowed with joy as they saw Sam, Tucker and the Fenton's coming out of the thick cluster of trees and into the clearing of the campsite.

Both Phantoms sighed in relief when the last of them emerged from the woods. They _did_ escape. They were finally here.

"Told you they'd be along." Danielle said, turning to her cousin. Danny smiled back at her with immeasurable gratitude and then rushed outside to greet his loved ones. Danielle followed onto the porch and stopped at the steps to watch as Danny and his family became reunited once again.

His treasured peers all crowded around him with joyful greetings and individual hugs from each. Jazz and Sam seemed like they were on the verge of tears as they embraced Danny, now that they have discovered that he was alive. After Danny had pulled away from a particularly warm hug from Sam, Danielle saw them kiss.

She blinked, slightly surprised at this almost sudden reaction and nearly started laughing. Danielle knew that her cousin was an especially good friend with this Goth girl, but had she really been gone so long that she had missed how strong a relationship has grown between these two friends?

Wulf had phased out of the cabin and stopped behind Danielle. Danny had now moved on to welcoming everyone else that was now joining in for a group-hug. Danielle smiled, watching this heartwarming scene her cousin was participating in.

She didn't think she ever felt such appreciation for people the way Danny did. She imagined that they all must have been worried sick over him. The young clone couldn't blame them though. She had carried him off in possibly the worst condition he had ever been in after any experience. She couldn't deny feeling a kind of longing for the extensive kind of love her cousin was receiving from so many people that he cared for in return. Not like the way _Vlad_ had treated _her_.

As the last of the family embraces were exchanged, and feelings of relief were expressed, Danny's parents looked up to see Danielle standing on the porch. As soon as she made eye contact with them, she started to feel a bit nervous. Danny soon followed the gaze of his parents to where Danielle and Wulf stood. He jerked his head, beckoning her to come over to them. When she hesitated, he gave her a look of reassurance. This made her feel a bit better, but she was still a bit slow when she started walking down the steps of the porch.

As the teenage girl approached the crowd, Danny's parents walked up to her. "And to whom do we owe the life of our son?" Mr. Fenton asked Danielle, with a smile.

"That was Wulf." Danielle said, indicating the spectral dog, who remained standing on the porch. "He's the one who got him out of that circle. I barely did anything."

"Are you kidding?" Tucker said, coming up from behind Danny's father. "You did a number on Freakshow when you locked him in his own cage and made him fall in that mud puddle." He said, energetically.

Then Mrs. Fenton approached with her own comment. "You also got his ghost-partner stuck in his own Ghost Trap."

"Not to mention got us the keys to our locks." Jazz put in, tossing the key ring she still had in the air and catching it again in one hand, with a smile.

"So _that's_ how you guys got away." Danny said when he saw the keys. Then smiling at Danielle he put in, "and _you_ say you barely did anything."

Danielle couldn't help but shrug with embarrassment.

Sam now came up to Danielle. "By the way, how did you get away from Freakshow and Lydia when he started chasing you?" She asked.

"Oh. Um…well…" Danielle was a bit shy in wanting to reveal that she had broken into Fenton Works and took a device of theirs, but she supposed it would have to be uncovered sooner or later. She unclipped the gadget from her side and presented it to Danny's parents.

Maddie took it and after a short examination, she said to her husband, "Hey, it's the test-model of the portable Ecto-Depleter." She said.

So they had renamed it. Thank goodness. "Did you find this at our old house?" Danny's mother asked, looking back at Danielle.

The young girl looked down at her feet, guiltily. "Yes ma'am. I did." She said. "I don't think Wulf and I would have been able to lose Freakshow if I didn't have it." She said defensively, but remorsefully at the same time.

To her surprise, Danny's mother just started laughing. "Oh, don't be so apologetic."

She said.

Then Mr. Fenton added his own remarks, "Yeah. Though I do wonder how you could have gotten into the house, if it helped to save my boy, I'm glad you were able to find it and put it to good use." The other Fentons nodded in agreement.

Danielle felt relieved after this response. Even though she had broken some rules on the way, they understood that it was for a good cause; seeing the result was that the youngest member of their family was saved from a slow and terrible fate.

After Tucker looked at the gun-like device in Maddie's hands, he seemed to think for a second before asking if he could take a look at it. Danny's mother was pleased to hand it over. The techno-geek was starting to get an idea now that he had his hands on another piece of technology besides his cell phone: which was still out of service in the abandoned campsite. He walked passed Danielle towards the porch, where he would take a better look at the device and see if it fulfilled his current needs.

Just before he reached the porch steps of the cabin, Danielle said behind him, "Gee, Tucker, I didn't think the mayor of Amity Park would think of getting a tattoo."

Tucker turned around, looking absolutely befuddled. "Tattoo? I don't have a tattoo."

"Then how do you explain the green, bat-shaped one on the back of you're neck." She asked, with a skeptical look.

At this comment, Tucker's eyes widened. "Green…bat-shaped…" he stuttered. And his hand bolted behind his neck.

Confused at this reaction, Danielle looked around at the others but was surprised to see that everyone else was looking just as alarmed as Tucker. Danny suddenly dashed over to the African American boy by flight and moved behind him. When he saw the green tattoo that was indeed stuck to his dark skin, he gasped.

"Hold still." He said urgently to his friend and charged up a small ecto-charge in his hand. As he touched the tattoo with an ignited finger, Danielle jumped, as the green bat-shape suddenly started moving and took flight, right off of Tucker's neck, with startled screeches.

Danny blasted the green bat with an ecto-ray from his finger and it vanished with a puff of green smoke.

Seeing the tattoo move instantly struck fear into Danielle as well, now that she understood what it really was.

As soon as the little green tattoo had disappeared, several others suddenly started flying out of their own hiding places that were on the other's figures. Before they went far, Danny nailed each of these with plasma rays, making them all disperse, leaving nothing but green vapor that disappeared as well.

"Oh, no." Sam said, sounding scared, as soon as the green entities were gone.

"Lydia's tracking-tattoos." Danny confirmed.

"_Tracking_-tattoos?" Danielle repeated. "Wait. She can use those as tracers?" She asked, completely stunned and pointing in the air where the mobile tattoos had disappeared.

"Yes, unfortunately." Tucker nodded, nervously feeling the back of his neck.

"We better get out of here before they find us." Danny said to everyone and began leading the way back to the woods.

However, before Danielle even took a step to follow, the icy breath of her ghost-sense emitted from her mouth. "Um. Danny?" She said to get his attention, and her dread steadily climbing higher.

Danny's ghost-sense must have gone off as well, because he turned back to her, looking anxious himself. "You think they already have?"

"Uh-huh?" The girl clone nodded nervously.

Everyone's fears were confirmed as they heard distant sounding cackles and horrifying cries coming towards them, fast from the trees. They looked ahead only in time to see a green mass emerge from the woods and hit the ground a distance in front of them, and suddenly dispersing to reveal the cloaked, tattooed ghost and her evil ringmaster companion.

"No." Danielle whispered, fearfully.

"Oh, yes." Freakshow responded. And a triumphant and wicked grin spread across his pale face.


	12. Ghost Hybrid vs Ghost Envy

Chapter 12 Ghost-Hybrid vs. Ghost-Envy

Everyone stood frozen on the campground, staring at the nemesis they thought they had escaped as he and his ghost partner stood there, both with looks of victory.

"Mom. Dad." Danny instructed, quietly. "Get everyone inside the cabin and stay there."

Sam stepped up behind him in protest. "Danny, we're not…"

"Now!" Danny ordered in a harsh whisper. "Wulf can protect you guys in there."

"Oh, _can_ he?" Freakshow commented in overhearing what the young ghost-hero was trying to tell his family. "And who's going to protect _you_ from _this_?"

In immediate response, Lydia threw her cape back and several of her tattoos shot from off her body, heading straight for the boy.

Seeing what was happening, Danielle ran up behind her cousin. "Danny, look out!" She shouted as she grabbed his arm and swung him out of the way of the oncoming assault.

Danny was thrown off balance from the pull and fell over on his front. He spun his head around, only in time to see his little cousin get hit by the blow that had originally been meant for him.

"Danielle!" He cried out as she was thrown back quite a distance and landed on her back, hard on the ground.

Before she could even sit up, the tattoos that had hit her dead on suddenly laced together and wrapped around the girl's body and Lydia was holding onto the other end of the lacing. "What the...Hey!" Danielle exclaimed as the animal shapes pinned her arms to her body and tied her ankles together.

Lydia yanked her end of the intertwined tattoos and Danielle was pulled away from the others, landing on the ground near Freakshow and out of the way of him getting to his goal.

The girl strained against the binding tattoos but they only tightened around her even more. "How many things can these stupid tattoos be used for?" She yelled in frustration.

Freakshow walked up to the girl's tightly bound figure on the ground as she continued to struggle. "Clever trick you pulled back there, girl, with the device that stopped Lydia's powers and all." He said to Danielle, who could only look up at the ringmaster from her defenseless position. "Pity for you it didn't last for very long."

"Hey! Leave her alone Freakshow!" Danny demanded, getting to his feet. "Your score is with _me_."

"On the contrary." Freakshow said, matter-of-factly, "Had she and her dog friend not interfered, our little score would already have been settled."

"Couldn't help it." Danielle said cheekily up at Freakshow. "Wulf and I just love getting our noses into any illicit clown's business."

Lydia glared as if scolding Danielle for talking to her master in such a way and kicked her in her stomach, effectively silencing her and making her roll over a bit about a foot away.

Danny couldn't help but take a jerky and concerned step towards his cousin as he saw her recoil from the pain in her stomach.

Freakshow smiled evilly down at the tied teenager at his feet and then turned to Danny, taking a few steps towards him and the others who backed away from his approach. The criminal stopped about half way and looked at Danny's bandaged injuries, smiling again. "I'll bet those still hurt. Don't they, boy?"

Danny glared at the pale-faced ringmaster in response as his parents pulled out their weapons from behind him.

"You're not laying another finger on our son." Mr. Fenton called out, aiming his Fenton Bazooka at…

Wait a minute. Where did Lydia go? Everyone started to panic in realizing that Freakshow's ghost-assistant had disappeared.

After frantically looking around, Lydia suddenly phased up through the ground behind the Fentons and Danny's friends. She threw her cape back again and sent the rest of her menacing little minions forth.

They zoomed around Danny's peers in a whirlwind similar to the one the cloaked woman had trapped Danielle in back in the cave. Before the Fentons could do anything with their ghost-hunting gear, the little tattoos started to swoop in from the mobile wall, grabbing their weapons one-by-one until they were once again left with no way of defending themselves. Or Danny.

The animal shapes that had taken their weapons flew back to Freakshow and dropped them at his feet while the other tattoos continued in their confining whirlwind formation around Danny's loved ones.

Wulf now sprang into action and leapt from the porch, charging straight at Lydia who was busy controlling her body-art to maintain the circular chamber. The great dog let out a roar of rage, but just before he pounced on her, Freakshow had taken the Jack-O-Nine-Tales gadget he had just obtained and launched its cord at the giant dog. The cords wrapped around Wulf's neck and Freakshow yanked the tube-like handle of the Nine-Tales, pulling the spectral canine right out of his intended path. The white cord then sent an electric surge through him.

Wulf let out a doglike yelp in pain from the sudden jolt and collapsed to the ground.

"Wulf!" Both Phantoms said in unison in seeing their ghostly ally fall.

Danny started to rush to help him as Freakshow reached inside his coat, pulling out a small circular device. He tossed it in Danny's direction and it landed only a few feet in front of the boy when he was half way to his fallen friend.

Just as Danny looked down to see it there, Freakshow pulled out the remote for the Ghost Trap and pressed a button in the direction of the device. The transparent, blue wall of the Ghost Trap suddenly appeared around Danny and the boy felt himself getting scrambled up inside from the effects of his powers becoming completely useless.

"No!" Danny cried out, banging on the walls of the dome, even though he knew he couldn't breach them. He was still in his ghost form, so he couldn't escape it. "I hate this thing." He said, continuing to try and break out.

Freakshow laughed his usual hysteric cackle in seeing Danny's desperate reaction and slowly began twisting a knob on the remote.

To everyone's shock, the dome around Danny began to shrink around its prisoner. Danny started to panic in realizing that the space around him was getting smaller. He desperately pushed against the inside of the walls as if trying to make it stop closing in around him but the shrinking eventually forced him down to his knees as the Ghost Trap continued reducing the space he was restricted to. The dome only stopped shrinking when Danny had no choice but to bend down to his knees to keep from having to crane his neck from the cramped space.

Freakshow laughed even more as he approached the Ghost Trap, pulling out a, by now, all too familiar, dark sack.

"He's got the sack. He's got the sack!" Tucker said urgently to everyone else inside the tattoo field, pointing a shaking finger at the black bag of what he knew contained.

Danny tried to withdraw from the dome wall that Freakshow was approaching, but he was already limited in space and couldn't go far.

"That's right, ghost-boy." Freakshow said when he saw the fear in Danny's eyes. "That fire may have destroyed the circle I made, but I still have some Blood Blossoms left."

Sam nearly gasped at simply hearing the name of the dreadful substance as Freakshow lifted the last of the red flowers out of the sack.

"It's not enough to make another circle, but I already know how much grief the vapor causes you." Freakshow was now in very close proximity to the Ghost Trap and was holding the last of his anti-ghost remedy at the ready. "Just dropping these inside the dome will still give off the vapors and fill up that dome in which you have no escape from. Need I say more on what will eventually happen?"

He laughed as if he just told a funny joke before Danielle shouted forcefully from behind him. "If you so much as _attempt_ to touch him with those again, I'll blow your hands off!"

Freakshow looked back at the tied girl who had managed to get up to her knees, despite the tattoos being wrapped around her.

He simply laughed at her look of determination. "And how exactly do you plan to do that, I wonder?"

"Dare to test me?" Danielle said darkly with a glare.

The pale-faced criminal looked at the Fentons' weapons that he had confiscated, then to the family itself that was trapped behind the moving wall of green animal shapes they were unable to bypass. He then glanced over to the now weakened dog-ghost and then to Danny Phantom who tried pushing his back against the dome wall in another desperate attempt to break free. Freakshow then finally looked back to young Danielle, his reassurance of himself growing even more at how helpless everyone seemed in being able to stop him from achieving his objective.

Freakshow shook his head at the girl with another cackle. "Considering I seem to have the upper hand, even over you and your pet ghost," he said as he started to elevate his hand that contained the Blood Blossoms over the blue dome, "you may as well just say goodbye to Danny Phantom."

The old circus leader looked down at his ghost-boy nemesis and started to slowly rotate his open hand downward to allow the deadly flowers to fall through the wall and into the Ghost Trap.

Danny's friends and family started to turn away and cover their ears, knowing what would happen as soon as the Blood Blossoms hit the ground inside the dome.

Before the destructive essence left Freakshow's hand, two narrow rays of identical green energy hit the back of his hand in unison, forcing him to accidentally throw the Blood Blossoms up and away from Danny. The flowers nearly hit Lydia instead in fact and she screamed fearfully as she dodged out of the way.

The pale-faced man grabbed his now singed hand, moaning in pain before looking back at Danielle, completely flabbergasted. Lydia and the Fentons seemed just as surprised as Freakshow was at what had just happened. Danny was the only one who really knew that Danielle had just shot the plasma rays from her eyes.

"Which one, Freak-Face?" The female-hybrid said darkly as her eyes returned from the resulting green glow from the released plasma ray to the original blue.

Danny looked at her with a cocked eyebrow. "It's Freak_show_." He corrected.

Danielle just rolled her eyes. "Whatever, they both start with the word "Freak" which is what he is." She said as if annoyed, nodding toward Freakshow.

After a second, Danny cocked his head to the side, seeing her point.

Tucker was the one who admitted if vocally. "Can't argue _that _one." He said, and everyone couldn't help but giggle at the comment. Including Danny.

Freakshow, still holding his injured hand, glared at the girl that just insulted him, but still with a trace of confusion written all over his face. "What do you mean 'which one'?" He inquired of her. "There _is_ only one Danny Phantom."

Danielle smiled and started to build her ecto energy up. "Depends on how you look at it, I guess." She said, closing her eyes in concentration. With a burst of energy emitting from her whole figure, she broke the green bindings around her and the tattoos instantaneously dispersed, having no choice but to return to their respective placing on Lydia's body.

Everyone stared wide-eyed after seeing this happen, except for Danny who was smiling up at the ghost-envious ringmaster as if he knew something he didn't, which was exactly the case.

Danielle stood up and started walking towards Freakshow determinedly. "But in _my_ view," she began. "Either way," She stopped half way to him. "You're still wrong."

Freakshow circled around the Ghost Trap, looking both confused as well as maybe a bit doubtful as Danielle started to smile the same way as Danny was.

Her smile broadened even more in seeing the look on Freakshow's face. "Allow me to show you why." She said with a bow as if presenting herself to do something spectacular. That's when she stepped backward into a ready stance, closed her eyes and the white ring of power expanded from around her waist.

Everyone except Danny stared completely stunned as the ring split and moved across the teenager's figure, transforming her into her, previously unknown, ghost-powered form. By the time the change was complete, Freakshow looked ten times as surprised as everyone else.

Danielle shot her eyes back open, looking at the pale man with now, glowing, bright green eyes that reflected the same spirit as the boy she had been created from.

"Meet yours truly: Dan_ielle_ Phantom." She said with a mocking smile, simply enjoying the shocked expression the villain was giving her. "Dani for short. With an _I_." She clarified, quickly.

"No. This can't be possible." Freakshow said, shaking his head and backing away a few steps.

"What? You thought that Danny Fenton and Vlad Masters were the _only_ ghost-hybrids in the world? Or did you just think it wasn't possible for a _girl_ to be one?" The ghost girl asked, putting her hands on her hips and giving Freakshow a look.

"Actually, he just wishes _he_ had the powers." Danny explained from under the dome of the Ghost Trap. "He has Ghost-Envy."

Jazz giggled at this, followed by the rest of the captives.

Freakshow growled at everyone trying to get them to stop before shouting his ghost-partner's name. "Lydia!"

In immediate response, Lydia flew passed her master, blocking Danielle's path to help her cousin and sent the last of her tattoos as well as a number of the ones from the whirlwind after Danielle and they started making the swarming twister around _her_ as well, just like they did back at the cave.

Freakshow, thinking the girl was trapped just as the rest were, smiled evilly at her. However, his expression changed to confusion when he saw the ghost-hybrid just look around at the green entities that surrounded her and cocked an eyebrow at Lydia as if in boredom.

"You know, you _really_ need to get yourself a new power. This whole tattoo thing is _way_ disturbing." She said, sounding annoyed and frustrated rather than scared or even defiant, like the ringmaster had been expecting.

Danielle charged up her hands with the green glow of the plasma ray that she now had regained complete control of and then extended her arms out, spinning her whole body upward into the air like a helicopter. The emission of energy this motion let off hit the flying tattoos and they all completely disappeared. "And that strategy has gotten really old by now." She added, while remaining afloat a few feet above the ground with her hands still charged.

That whirlwind wall trick may have kept the Phantom-clone down back in the cave, when her powers had been dysfunctional, but now that she had them back, she had become a force to be reckoned with. Lydia must have realized this too, because she looked quite startled after Danielle so easily defeated the source of her special power.

The ghost-girl took advantage of the hesitation by flying towards the cloaked ghost, grabbing her by the cape with one hand in passing, and swung her up and over her head while in midair, throwing her, underhanded, right at Freakshow.

Lydia collided with the ringmaster and they were both forced several yards towards the lake behind them and away from where Danny was trapped inside the blue dome.

Immediately after, Danielle flew to the Ghost Trap. "Danny, are you okay?" She asked, peering through the wall at him in concern, putting her hands on the outside of the circular confinement.

"Yeah, thanks." Danny nodded. "I'd be better if I didn't feel so cramped, though." He said, trying to push out on the inside of his imprisonment again.

"I'll get you out of there." Danielle reassured, straightening up.

Freakshow started to laugh in overhearing this. "I don't thinks so, girl." He said as Danielle looked in his direction. He and Lydia had untangled themselves from the ground and Lydia was now hovering next to the ringmaster who, by now, was sitting up on the grass. "You need the remote in order to deactivate that Ghost Trap." He pulled out the mentioned remote and wiggled it in his fingers as if taunting the ghost-girl with it. "And _I_ still have that." He finished with an evil grin.

Danielle cocked an eyebrow at the pale-faced criminal, folding her arms and put a gloved hand on her chin as if in thought. "Hmm. You're right. That _would_ be a problem." She said sarcastically, but then Freakshow's confidence faded when he saw the young girl smile. After scoffing. Then she shrugged and added, "If I wanted to keep the stupid trap in _tact_, that is."

She pointed a finger at the small device on the ground that was generating her cousin's small prison and shot an ecto-ray at it without even looking.

The circular generator for the Ghost Trap exploded, leaving nothing but a small mess of metal and sparking wires that were sizzling with green smoke from her plasma ray. Without the portable generator to maintain the blue dome, the Ghost Trap holding her cousin dissolved to nothing.

"Wha…? No!" Freakshow cried out, standing up as his last means of confinement around his teen-ghost enemy disappeared before his eyes.

Danny stood up, now able to stretch his legs from being cooped up inside the cramped cage. Then he looked at his young clone. "Why didn't you just do that before?" He asked, smiling.

Danielle just scoffed, shaking her head. "You know what I'm gonna say, right?"

Danny rolled his eyes, amused and started quoting what the girl used to always say to _him_ two years ago in a time like this. "Do you wanna ask questions…?" He began, lazily but still smiling even more.

"…Or do you wanna kick some butt?" The hybrid-clone finished for him with a nod, smiling mischievously in Freakshow's direction.

Danny looked over at the clown-faced criminal with the same exact expression. "I'll go with the second." He responded as Freakshow looked fearfully between them.

Then, the two Phantom partners stood back-to-back, just like the first time they had fought together.


	13. Phantom's Reunited

_**This chapter was actually part of chapter twelve, but it was getting long enough for me to put it into two shorter ones. But still. A whole chapter dedicated to Danielle's grand entrance, I thought was reasonable. Now for the fight against Freakshow who is already freaked out, seeing as there's now two Danny Phantoms that he has to deal with. Please enjoy this next chapter. **_

**Chapter 13: Phantom's Reunited**

After obvious hesitation and glancing in between the two ghost hybrids, who were prepared to fight against him, Freakshow finally looked to Lydia who was looking a bit doubtful, herself.

"What are you waiting for? Get them!" He commanded, pointing at the Phantoms. Lydia nodded rather hesitantly but called every one of her tattoos back to her, including the ones that were trapping Danny's friends and family in the whirlwind. Then she then sent them all after the two hybrids.

Both Danny and Danielle stood their ground as the tattoos hurdled towards them. With ready determination, written all over their faces, they charged up ecto-plasmic spheres in their hands and fired at the exact same time. The combined force of their ghost energy disintegrated the wave of menacing minions completely.

While Lydia stood shocked at the effective use of the united power, they both zoomed at her, linking hands as they went.

Holding onto each other's wrists, Danny swung Danielle forward. As her feet came around the front, her heels made contact with Lydia, one after the other and the kicks sent her spinning off the side.

But Danny didn't give the ghost any time to recover. "Ready?" He asked his female clone, while still holding onto her wrists.

"Ready." Danielle said with an unwavering smile.

While still airborne, Danny swung his cousin around again, this time thrusting her over his shoulder like a dart at Lydia again. As they let go of each other, the resulting momentum from Danny's swing sent Danielle speeding towards their opponent. Her hands charging up, she flipped in midair, and brought her fists down on top of Lydia's head, driving her out of the air and into the roof of a cabin below. The hit was so hard, the ghost crashed right through the already crumpling roof and even made a crater in the wood floor of the cabin.

While all this was happening between the female ghosts, Danny made an airborne loop-de-loop, heading for the pile of Fenton ghost-gear behind him and fished out the Fenton Thermos. He quickly flew back to where the battle was taking place with it.

"Dani, over here!" He called to the female hybrid as he screwed the lid off of the Thermos.

Danielle looked back at the ghost-hero, seeing him coming and nodded in acknowledgment. As she was turned away, however, Lydia flew out of the hole of the roof and grabbed her from behind. The tattooed ghost took hold of the girl's wrists and made her arms wrap around her own body, holding her tight.

If Danielle tried to use her plasma ray with her hands to break free of Lydia's grip, she would only hurt herself. However, she still had her feet.

The ghost-girl bent her knee, charging up that foot and swung her leg up and above her own head in a stretch-kick. The ecto charge she had on her shoe hit Lydia square in the head behind her, forcing her to let go.

As the ghost was holding her forehead, where Danielle had planted the unexpected blast, Danielle back-flipped behind her, charging her feet up again. As soon as she was directly behind the cloaked woman, she pushed off her back with both of her feet, and at the same time, releasing the plasma blasts, and pushing Lydia in Danny's direction as he pointed the Thermos at the green skinned woman.

Lydia screamed as she was caught in the suction of the activated Thermos. As soon as she disappeared inside it, Danny slammed the lid on, screwing it tight.

"Nice, Dani." He said to his little cousin, as she touched down on the ground in front of him.

"You too, Danny." The clone said, and they shared a high-five.

Danny looked over at his family that was now free of the whirlwind and tossed the ghost-catching device to Jazz. "Hold onto that for me, while I finish business, will ya?" He said.

Jazz caught the Thermos with a smile and the Phantoms turned their attention towards Freakshow who stood rooted to the spot in seeing his ghostly assistant defeated and the Phantom cousins folding their arms, smiling at him, mockingly.

Tucker and Sam hurried to Wulf who was still on the ground and removed the cord of the Jack-o-Ninetales from around his neck. While they were helping him up, Danny's parents went to recover their ghost-hunting gear.

Freakshow glanced around, desperately, as if looking for a way out, when his eyes suddenly rested on the Blood Blossoms he had dropped earlier. They were lying on the ground only a few feet behind him. He quickly bolted for them, but the Phantoms both saw what he was going for. Danny shot a plasma ray at him from his palm and the desperate ringmaster was forced, so far away from the Blossoms, he splashed into the middle of the lake behind him.

"How come _you_ didn't take the hit?" Danny asked, Danielle, wondering why she didn't shoot as well.

Danielle simply shrugged with a smile. "I had _my_ fun with the creepy tattoo lady." She said. "I figured it was your turn, since he's _your_ enemy." After smiling at the comment and cocking an eyebrow, Danny laughed a little.

The Fentons picked up the Blood Blossoms from the ground, storing them where they could cause no ghost anymore harm. In hearing coughing noises, everyone looked to where Freakshow was trying to swim back to shore. The two half-ghost children glided over to the lake and hovered above the surface of the water, looking down at the old circus leader who could only stare back up at them from in the water. "Not so confident now that you've got _two_ Phantoms to deal with, huh?" Danielle said with a wide grin.

"And no more ghost-assistant to help you, either." Danny added. As his family came up from behind them, to the edge of the lake, Jazz playfully shook the Thermos in which Lydia was now trapped in, mocking Freakshow further.

Danielle then put in her own comment. "Yeah, the next time you decide to break out of jail and get revenge," She started, before suddenly zooming up to the man's face with a warning glare, "Stay away from my cousin." She finished, harshly.

Freakshow looked fearfully into the girl's eyes, but then with a trace of perplexity he raised an eyebrow. "Cousin?" He inquired.

"Cousin?" Jazz repeated from the shore. Danielle gasped in realizing what she had just said in front of everyone else and clapped a hand over her mouth. But the damage was already done. "We don't have a cousin named Danielle. Do we, mom?" Jazz asked, turning to her parents who both shook their heads.

"Not that _I'm_ aware of." Maddie said.

By this time, Tucker and Sam had joined them with Wulf. "Wait, so this girl isn't really your cousin?" Sam asked Danny. Danny scratched the back of his head in nervous hesitation.

But before he could say anything to explain the complicated matter, they all heard something coming towards them from the woods. Everyone looked in that direction to see two helicopters rise up over the treetops and come right towards them.

"Yeah. It's about time." Tucker said, triumphantly. The others looked at him, confused until he held up his cell-phone, which he had wired to the Ecto-Depleter he had borrowed from Danny's mother. "I was able to get better reception using this and call 911 while the fight was going on." He said with a look that suggested that he was quite pleased with himself.

"All right, Tuck." Danny said, in congratulations as the helicopters drew nearer.

Danny looked down at Freakshow with a mocking grin. Freakshow was trying to make a break for it to the other side of the lake, but an invisible force was holding him by the back of his coat, keeping him from really going anywhere. So Danny just stayed where he was as the police came closer.

One of the helicopters flew in front of the escapee while the other one landed near the shore of the lake. Three men in blue uniforms stepped out of the landed helicopter. "Hey there, guys." Danny greeted as the uniformed men approached the Fenton's and Danny's friends, overlooking the scene with Freakshow in the lake.

In the remaining airborne copter that was hovering in front of the criminal, another man in blue uniform poked his head out of the window with a megaphone and said, "This is the Amity Park police. Step out of the lake, and onto the shore, Freakshow. You're under arrest."

Danny just floated back to shore as if patrolling the scene, smiling with his arms folded as Freakshow reluctantly swam back to the shore where his peers and the other policemen stood with grins of their own. "He's all yours, officers." Danny said to the cops, landing by his family as soon as Freakshow crawled out of the water. In acknowledgment, the police immediately cuffed the dripping wet, ringmaster, who could do nothing to stop them, since he was already surrounded and Lydia wasn't exactly available for assistance. The other helicopter landed and the head officer who had the megaphone came out to greet the teenage ghost-boy.

"Well done, Danny Phantom. As usual." The head officer said, as the other policemen escorted Freakshow back to one of the helicopters. "Hey, looks like the gang's all here." He said, looking around, seeing Danny's friends and family who had been missing for nearly a week. "Mayor Foley." He said to Tucker when he noticed him. "Good to see you're well." He tipped his hat towards the teenage mayor who nodded with a smile.

"Thanks to a bit of help." Tucker responded in addition.

Only a moment later however, the officer noticed the bandages that Danny was covered in. "Whoa. Looks like you took quite a bit of a beating before we got here." He said sounding concerned.

"Oh, I'm okay." Danny said, reassuringly. "And everyone else is safe."

He turned to give Danielle a gratifying look…but she was gone. And so was Wulf. No one else seemed to know where the two had gone either, because they were looking around as if searching for them, as well.

It was then that Danny realized that Danielle must have been the invisible force keeping Freakshow back by his coat as the cops were pulling up. But why did she turn invisible in the first place? And where did Wulf go?

"Well…not really _everyone_, actually." The officer said, interrupting Danny's thoughts. When Danny cocked an eyebrow in confusion, the officer explained. "Since you left in search of your missing peers, Amity Park has been completely overrun by maybe at least a hundred ghosts."

"What?" Danny nearly shouted in complete bewilderment. He looked back at his family who looked equally as shocked by the news. "I've only been gone for a few days!" The ghost-boy exclaimed, turning back to the head cop.

The policeman responded. "Nearly a week to be exact. And the ghosts seem to know it, too."

"Is anyone hurt?" Danny asked, anxiously.

"Nothing serious, but the townspeople are getting really scared. There are even some doubts going around on whether or not you'll be coming back."

"Well then, I'll soon be back in town to put those doubt to rest." Danny said with fortitude. "Could you maybe, give my family a lift back home?" He asked, indicating the people behind him.

"Of course, but…" the officer looked over Danny's bandages again. "You sure, you feel up to it?"

"Oh yeah." Danny again, reassured. "These aren't nearly as bad as they look anymore. I'll just round up some other friends to help, and I'll be right there."

The head policeman nodded. "Hurry, though." He said with a bit of noticeable urgency in his tone. After Danny nodded in acknowledgment, the cop turned his attention to the young hybrid's loved ones, gesturing them towards his helicopter.

As the peers passed Danny, following the officer, Danny's parents and sister approached him. The boy started to get nervous when his mother whispered, "Danny, who was that girl ghost? How did she get her powers?"

"And why did Tucker and Sam think she was a relative of ours." Jazz asked in addition.

"And if she's not really a cousin, who _is_ she? Who are her parents?" Danny's father added.

Danny raised his hands defensively from the sudden bombardment of questions. "I'll explain everything when we're all safe back home. I promise." He said quickly. Then after lowering his hands, he looked at them meaningfully. "But can I trust that no matter what her background is, you'll remember what you thought about _me_ before I told you my secret?" There was a pause in which he saw his parents look at each other, a bit guiltily before he added. "And I think she would appreciate it if you didn't reveal _hers_ to anyone else."

After Danny's sister and parents exchanged looks in response to what Danny was asking, they smiled and nodded at their youngest family member.

Danny smiled back, feeling reassured and looked down at the Fenton Thermos in Jazz's hands. "Make sure that's put someplace where Lydia can't break out and then break _Freakshow_ out." He said to her and then, looking at the helicopter that Freakshow was now inside. He shivered in remembering how he felt when he had found Freakshow's note and then the prolonged pain he felt when in the ring of Blood Blossoms. "I _never_ want something like this to happen again." He said.

"Tell me about it." Jazz put in, quietly, following her little brother's gaze to where Freakshow was. When she turned back to Danny, she suddenly embraced him. This was already unexpected but then his parents joined in on the hug.

After a second of surprise, Danny hesitated, but then spread his arms as far as he could around his family, returning their warm embrace.

"We'll take care of the rest of the Blood Blossoms, son." Jack said to him, quietly.

When Danny's family finally let go of him, his mother put in her own remarks. "And even if that ghost-girl isn't really related to us, she gave me back my little boy. Whatever friend of yours that you consider a cousin is also considered family to us."

After Danny smiled in response, Maddie, her husband, and her daughter all walked away from Danny to the awaiting helicopter that Sam and Tucker had already boarded. After they got in, the door of the helicopter closed.

Danny backed away from the aircrafts as they started to lift off, and he saw his peers wave down at him through the windows. The young hero waved back, as his loved ones were carried up and over the trees of the woods, back home to where he knew they would be out of harm's way.

He also spared a mocking wave at Freakshow who was looking out his own window, disappointedly, as the helicopter he was in, headed in the direction of the Amity Park Penitentiary.

As soon as they were out of sight, Danny turned around, looking about the deserted campsite. "Wulf? Danielle?" He called out.

Silence. Danny started walking through the campsite, continuing to call out the names of his missing friends.

Danielle was always mysteriously disappearing, but she had said that she'd be sticking around for a bit longer. Then again, she never really said for _how_ long. As he was starting to think that maybe she had left, he heard a soft voice coming from one of the cabins. "Are they gone?"

Danny turned to see the girl cousin of his peaking out from the inside of the nearest cabin, through its broken window. "Yeah, they are, but why did you just disappear like that?" He asked, walking up to the run-down cabin.

Danielle looked down and hesitated before saying, "I…didn't want to cause a stir in publicity that there are two Danny Phantoms now." She said.

"That…doesn't seem like a good reason to be hiding, to _me_." Danny said, folding his arms, a bit confused at why she would be concerned about a thing like _that_. "Where's Wulf?"

"He's in here, too." The hybrid clone responded. Danny went intangible and flew through the wall of the cabin where she waited. When he landed in front of her, she continued to explain. "The last time Wulf had new encounters with people, they didn't exactly take him in well. I thought it would have been best if _he_ wasn't seen either. So I got him to turn invisible, too, as soon as we saw the cops coming up."

"Yeah, I guess you have a point." Danny said, looking up at the giant dog, remembering how scared _he_ was when he first saw Wulf. His thoughts then wandered back to what the police had told him. "Dani, about the cops," He began, looking down at Danielle. "They were…exaggerating the ghost problem back in town…weren't they?" He asked, hoping.

"So they told you?" When Danny nodded, Danielle shook her head with a sigh. "I'm afraid they weren't. I was just there yesterday with Wulf and saw it myself." Danny stared at her in disbelief as she continued. "I was able to stay and help out a bit, but by the time whatever ghost we defeated was gone, the people still looked terrified and just went about their business. It was as if it was routine for them to get attacked constantly, now. Valerie's been doing her best in your absence, but even _she_ isn't doing well in keeping the ghosts under control."

Danny sighed, rubbing his forehead, with his concerns being realized. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked.

Danielle rubbed one of her arms as though regretting the delay in giving the information. "I was _going_ to," She responded, a bit defensively, "but as soon as your family showed up and the fight with Freakshow started, I didn't really have a chance to get around to it."

After a moment's thought, Danny shook the thought out of his head, "Well, come on then." He said to her. "I'll probably need some help."

Danny turned toward the door, but Danielle didn't follow. She didn't even move. "You won't need me." She said quietly.

Danny stopped in mid-step and looked back at her. "What?"

"When I was there, most of the ghosts Wulf and I ran into just had to make eye-contact with me and they ran for it."

Danny scoffed, sounding amused. "Really?" He asked with a smile.

Danielle nodded. "I'm sure once they see _you're_ back in town, they'll just take off." She told him. "Besides. I wouldn't want publicity to go crazy in seeing _me_ around. I don't want to steal your spotlight."

Danny nearly started laughing. "Spotlight? Man, I'd _love_ it if it would focus on someone _else_ for a while. If the publicity's your only concern, then by all means, _please_ come with me."

"No." The girl said, a bit more defiantly than Danny expected. "You worked hard to get your reputation Danny, I'm not going to just take it."

"Danielle, honestly. My reputation has nothing to…" Danny's sentence trailed off when he noticed how Danielle was looking down at the floor, rubbing her arms as if nervous. He looked at her for a thoughtful moment, thinking, starting to realize something. "That's not the only thing, is it?" He asked his little cousin.

Danielle continued to stare down, and then gave a heavy sigh. "It's just that…" She started to say, hesitantly. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for…" she paused before taking a deep breath, and suddenly blurting out, "Danny, what if they find out I'm really a…well…a…" She looked at her hands, unable to finish.

"A clone?" Danny finished for her with a guess.

Danielle closed her eyes and lowered her hands back down to her sides. "A clone…made by an old enemy of yours."

The full realization of what the young girl was fearing hit Danny right there. "Ah" he said, slowly and sympathetically. He stared at her for a moment before putting his hands comfortingly on the girl's shoulders and bent down to look into her troubled face. "But, no one else has to know that." He said to her. "It'll just be our little secret, okay?"

"But your family." Danielle responded, looking even more worried. "They already know I'm not really your cousin. I didn't want to have to Go Ghost in front of them, but…if I didn't, Freakshow would have…" The hybrid clone trailed off on this sentence too. She looked up at her hybrid counterpart. "Danny, what if they start telling people that…"

"Hey, don't worry." Danny interrupted, smiling. "I've talked to them and they said they'd keep that to themselves. Besides. Even if people _did_ find out that Vlad created you, you helped me to fight against him. We both have plenty of evidence saying that they shouldn't worry about you. Same with Wulf." He said.

"Like what?" Danielle asked, looking back down at her feet, not sounding reassured at all.

Danny straightened up, scoffing. "Do we _really_ have to go over this, again? You saved me four times, now. And Wulf's helped me out quite a bit too. What more will they need?"

"Four?" Danielle responded, looking back up at her older cousin with a confused look. "How is it _four_?"

"Well, the first time I met you, you helped me to defeat that other clone ghost that Vlad had sent after me..."

"That was staged." Danielle interrupted.

"And I'm still counting it." Danny said back to her, before going on, counting off the events on his fingers. "The second time, you helped me to beat Vlad himself and take down his research facility in Colorado."

"Yeah, but that wouldn't have happened if you didn't help me to see the truth about Vlad." Danielle argued.

But despite the comment, Danny went on, "Then _yesterday_, you got me away from the Blood Blossoms and helped my friends and family to escape."

"I never would have even found you guys, if it wasn't for Wulf."

"But you still gave Freakshow quite a turn, even though you couldn't use your powers. We already discussed this one when my family got here." Danny then went on to the fourth event. "And just now, you helped me to get Freakshow arrested and capture Lydia."

There was a pause where Danielle thought about everything her cousin just said. "Well…you saved _my_ life, once." She said slowly. "I had to return the favor."

"And you've done _more_ than that by now that there is no way my family would have a problem with you. Or anyone else for that matter." Danny confirmed. After a thoughtful pause, he looked into her face again. "Listen," he started to say softly, "I'm sure you already know that I faced quite a bit of rejection when I was first starting out. Now that everyone knows I'm here to _help_ people, why would they have any doubts about _you_?"

Danielle bit her lower lip in consideration. "Besides. " The ghost-boy continued, sounding more cheerful. "If what you say is true, and most of the ghosts will bail just from seeing me, imagine how much faster they'll go if they know there's…_two_ of me in town." He finished this with a very big smile and Danielle started giggling at the thought, which made her feel much better. "If anyone asks, you can still pass as my cousin and my family won't say anything against it."

"Promise?" Asked the ghost clone.

"Promise." Danny replied, comfortingly.

Feeling much more reassured, Danielle agreed to go. They phased out of the cabin and took off. With Wulf following close behind, on foot, the two Phantoms flew over the woods, towards Amity Park. Together.


	14. Many Ghostly Returns

_**This one was a bit difficult to write. It wasn't one that I had originally planned out like the fights with Freakshow. But once I got going it was actually kind of fun. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I had writing it. **_

**Chapter 14: Many Ghostly Returns**

The Phantom cousins flew over the top of the woods to Amity Park with Wulf racing along just underneath them through the trees. Danielle may have been able to fly around the campsite the night before, but to go at full speed towards one particular goal was more uplifting than she had felt in days. Especially when she was doing it alongside the one she most looked up to. She thought it might actually be kind of fun being able to take on a whole invasion force together to reclaim Danny's hometown.

As they neared the city from above, they touched down on the hill that overlooked the city. The one Danielle and Wulf had stood on top of when they had first arrived on the outskirts. Wulf came up behind the two as they gazed out at the ghost invaded town. Danielle could have sworn it looked even worse than the last time she saw it from this point. It looked even duller now and ghosts were popping up everywhere only to swoop back down to possibly scare more people. She could also see a few places on fire.

She looked over at Danny who was looking over the scene with sorrowful bewilderment on his face. "I told you it was bad." Danielle said aloud.

"You weren't kidding, either." Danny said, not taking his eyes off of the town.

"So what's the plan?" Danielle asked. "It's not going to look any better if we just stand here."

Danny thought for a moment and squinted down at his home with a hand shading his eyes. Skimming over the top of the city he then lowered his hand and said, with more courage in his voice now, "Well, aside from the part of just getting all the ghosts to leave, looks like we need to start at City Hall. That seems to be where it looks the worst." Indeed, even from this far away Danielle could see the big white building around the center of the city where it looked the grayest and most restless. No doubt the ghost decided to attack the heart of the city before spreading outward since Tucker was no longer there to help stop it after being abducted by Lydia.

"I want to see how bad the situation really is up close before I plan any further." Danny pressed on.

"You're the boss." Danielle said, folding her arms.

Danny lifted into the air and hovered a few feet on the spot, looking down at his young clone. "Then, let's get to work." He said. And then he bolted off towards the city. Danielle flew after him and then Wulf turned invisible before descending the hill and following them by foot.

0000000

A large crowd of people ran around the outside entrance of City Hall, screaming. At least ten ghosts had decided to team up and terrorize all at once and were cackling evilly as they watched their frightened victims run for their lives before them, only to be cut off by another one of the ghosts in their group. This pattern continued until the mischievous beings began to chase all of their victims down the street running alongside the white building, making ghastly noises in pursuit of the frightened townspeople.

Suddenly, a giant, scruffy, black dog in a green, hooded and torn up outfit phased up through the ground in front of the ghosts, blocking their path from the horrified humans. The ghosts halted in midair at the sight of the massive canine and the chased ones looked back, noticing that the ghosts were no longer following them, but looking scared all the same at Wulf.

The ghosts seemed rather hesitant at first, but then they shook it off and bolted at Wulf instead of the people in anger of stopping them in the middle of their fun.

But just before they reached him, another ghost phased out of the ground. This one was much more friendly looking for the humans, but the anxiety in the ghosts had shot back at them again to twice as bad. Everyone's first impression was Danny Phantom at the sight of the black and white jumpsuit, but a second look instantly told them that it was just a girl who wore the same colors.

Danielle smiled at the enemy specters mischievously as she floated between them and the hairy, black dog. "Going somewhere?" She asked, folding her arms, unwavering, despite the fact that she was quite outnumbered.

Then an all-familiar voice said behind the group of green masses, "How about away from my town." While the scared townsfolk suddenly beamed at the one who had just spoke, the trouble making ghosts spun around with faces of horror.

The real Danny Phantom had just phased up through he concrete ground himself, and was floating about a foot above it with his arms folded and a determined grin spread across his face. Just as Danielle had predicted, the green specters suddenly screamed in fright at the sight of him and scattered off in different directions, away from the scene and away from the innocents.

Danielle flew to Danny's side as they both laughed at how the ghosts looked when fleeing. When the mirth subsided, the three ghosts sped off around the white building for other ghosts who were causing mischief. And there were many. But they all took off before Danny and his companions in the same manner. They eventually made their way back to the front of the building, scaring off whatever ghosts were left in the proximity of the building.

The two teenage hybrids laughed while floating in midair and holding their stomachs in seeing the last of the trouble-making specters disappear. They just couldn't help it. The way something that was supposed to be so fearsome to so many people was flying off in fear of the two teenagers was just so funny to watch.

The scene was even more humorous when Wulf took the pleasure of chasing off the last few of the stray entities like a young puppy chasing flying insects. By the time they were all gone, Wulf also seemed amused because he was smiling gleefully with his tough hanging out and his tail was wagging wildly.

Danny scratched him behind the ears and said to Danielle, with his laughter settling, "You were right. They're scared to death of me."

"Death?" Danielle commented with a raised eyebrow. "Danny, they're ghosts."

This caught Danny off guard and after stuttering for a second, he just said, "Well…whatever. You know what I mean." And the two started laughing again. This might actually end up being fun for the two of them instead of having to be a hard day of work.

Danny looked in the directions all the ghosts had fled in. "Hopefully they'll spread the word that I'm back and that I've got some friends with me."

"It'll certainly make the job easier." Danielle responded with a nod.

When the three ghost-companions looked at the townspeople they had just rescued, they seemed a bit confused at first in seeing a giant, hairy ghost-beast in close proximity to Danny as well as the girl ghost who looked so much like him. But then they started to cheer for the return of their hero despite the company they saw him in the midst of. They all began to rush to him as if to embrace him in welcome back, but Danny suddenly grabbed Danielle by her gloved wrist and pulled her up and out of reach of the crowd with him. "I'm glad to see all of you guys too, but we've got more cleaning up to do." Then, with his hand still having a good hold on his clone's wrist, he suddenly bolted away from the crowd. Wulf followed on foot.

With the great dog's natural speed and the ghost-hybrids' ability to fly, they were able to outdistance the pursuing townspeople easily. When they were around a corner and out of sight, the two teenagers landed and Wulf caught up. "Just so you know, that's not going to be the only crowd we run into." The older of the two explained to the younger one. "They're going to want some answers about you eventually."

After a bit of a worried look, Danielle nodded with a heavy sigh. "I know."

After getting a bird's-eye-view of the city again, the Phantoms agreed that the mall would be the next best place to go. It was only a few minutes until they and Wulf had reached the mall to find it in the same state as City Hall. People were scattering everywhere, being chased by green specters who were all cackling maliciously. One little boy in particular who seemed to be only about five or six was being chased by a large one and headed right towards the Phantoms who had both loop-de-looped onto Wulf's back. The ghost trio then turned invisible to avoid detection. They also went intangible to allow the little boy to pass right through them unknowingly. Then they turned solid again and Wulf slashed his now extended claws at the ghost before it could follow the boy. As the ghost was recovering from this unexpected hit, the three turned visible again. The ghost saw them and suddenly froze on the spot.

Danielle spared a cheesy grin and waved her fingers at the confused looking specter when it looked at her.

"Boo." Both Phantoms said in unison.

The green specter screamed in terror and then bolted.

After the two teenagers took a moment to laugh again, Danny said, amused, "I can't believe that still works."

A timid voice came behind them now. "Danny Phantom?" All three of the ghosts turned to see that the boy had stopped running when they had reappeared. He had neatly combed, brown hair, a red sweater and baggie blue pants with strap-on tennis shoes. He still looked very frightened. "I-I-Is that you?" He said, hesitantly.

The poor child sounded like he was thinking that he must have been hallucinating. Had Danny's absence really made that much of an impact on people despite it only being for under a week?

The ghost-hero flew off of Wulf's back and landed in front of the boy, bending down and holding out his hand. "Yeah, it's me." He said with a gentle tone. The little boy looked at Danny, up and down for a moment before slowly walking towards his outstretched arm. Danny patiently waited and smiled as the young boy finally touched his hand as if making doubly sure that this was actually real. Then he beamed up at the hero and suddenly sprang at him, grabbing his outstretched arm.

"I knew you'd be back. I knew you'd save us." The little boy exclaimed happily, though Danielle still thought she could see fearful tears starting to swell up in the child's eyes.

"Yeah. I'm back." Danny reassured. And he picked the boy up.

"That ghost was scary." The boy said, wrapping his little arms around his hero's neck. But then as he looked over Danny's shoulder to the giant hairy, specter behind him, fear entered into his wet eyes again.

Danny realized this and Danielle instantly thought to turn herself and Wulf invisible, but then that might make the child panic. "Oh, don't be afraid of him." Danny quickly said to calm the boy down. "That's a friendly ghost too. Just like me. So's that girl on his back."

When the boy saw the girl that looked very much like Danny actually riding on the scary looking beast, he did seem a bit less startled. Danielle helped to further this reassurance by stoking the back of Wulf's head. Wulf must have gotten the idea too because he started to smile and wag his tail happily like the friendly puppy that any kid would love to take home. Danny also approached Wulf slowly, with the child still in his arms, and started to pat the giant dog's snout.

In seeing this action, the little boy's fear seemed to disappear a little more by the minute. Eventually the child extended a small hand out very slowly and started to pat Wulf's nose as well. The huge dog licked the boy's hand in a friendly greeting way. The boy withdrew it quickly as soon as the tongue made contact, but he was laughing when he did it.

"See? He's not gonna hurt you." Danny said, with a smile. "This is Wulf." He introduced. "He's gonna help me scare all the mean ghosts away."

"Really?" The boy asked, looking at Danny and sounding excited.

"Yup. And that girl up there's going to help, too." Danny said, indicating the ghost-girl on Wulf's back, who was smiling down at the child. "That's my cousin, Danielle."

After Danielle waved down to at the little boy in greeting, she spoke to him. "What's _you're_ name?"

"Andrew." The boy said a bit shyly, but smiling.

Just then, a thought struck Danny. "Where's your mom, Andrew?" He asked the boy.

Andrew's smile disappeared at the question and he looked down at the ground silently. "Do you know where your mom is?" Danny repeated seeing the boy's expression, though he was starting to fear the answer now. The little boy slowly looked back up at the mall where he had been running from and pointed in that direction.

Danny turned towards the mall where he could see several more masses flying around the parking lot and chasing more people around.

There was one in particular that he recognized, even from afar: A slender, black, female ghost. As soon as Danny recognized the ghost, he quickly put a hand on Wulf and turned himself and the others invisible.

"What's wrong?" Danielle asked, when she noticed herself turn completely transparent.

"Spectra." Danny said aloud, in angered frustration.

"Huh?" Danielle asked, turning around to trying to see what her cousin was looking at.

"That black ghost." The ghost-boy specified. "She's a self-serving therapist when she's not going around causing trouble in her true form."

"And it's chasing my mommy." Andrew called out and, though no one could see his hand, he pointed out a redheaded woman with a green blouse, blue slacks and black high-heeled shoes, whom the dark specter was indeed pursuing.

"Come on, let's get her." Danielle said determinedly, turning Wulf in that direction to go after Spectra.

"Whoa, not so fast cuz." Danny quickly said, before he heard her and Wulf run off. "This one's not going to be one of the ghosts that will high-tail out of here in just seeing me. Plus, she has an assistant." Danny looked around to see if he could find a specific green shape among the specters that were flying around the parking lot to see if he could find the one he was looking for, but he didn't see him.

"Is that a bad thing?" Danielle inquired. A bit more quietly

"His name is Bertrand." Danny explained. Then he exhaled in frustration before adding, "And he's a shape-shifter."

Danielle's eyes widened. "So it _is_ a bad thing."

"We'll definitely have to go at a more stealthy approach." Danny said. "You ready?"

"You bet." Danielle responded.

000000

The woman ran from the dark ghost, calling out for her lost son in between screams of fright for her own safety. When she turned, seeing the evil entity in hot pursuit, she suddenly stumbled on the concrete of the mall parking lot. In her fall, she dropped her purse, whose contents flew everywhere when making contact with the ground.

She scrambled to her knees as Spectra hovered over the fallen woman and the green a gooey-looking form of Bertrand with red eyes suddenly phased up through the ground in front of the frightened mother. "Ooh. Nice." The transformer said, picking up the wallet that had fallen out and examining its contents.

"Where's Andrew? Where's my son?" The woman cried out, desperately.

Spectra shrugged with an evil smile curving her purple lips. "How should I know? You told him to run. Remember?" The mother looked at the dark, floating mass with concern for her little boy growing in her tear swelling eyes. "What kind of a parent are you anyway. Asking your own child to take off into where he would only run into even more ghosts." Spectra said, extending out a hand in presentation of all the other mischief making entities that were flying around the vicinity.

The woman looked hopelessly down at the ground, with tears rolling down her cheeks now when she suddenly heard the voice of her little boy. "Hey you mean, ghosts. Leave my mom alone."

Spectra, Bertrand and the mother, who was still on her knees, looked up to see a lone boy of eight standing just a short distance away. "Andrew!" The woman cried out, seeing her son standing so firmly up to the attacking ghosts.

Then, Danny Phantom suddenly turned visible just behind him with a supporting hand on the boy's little shoulder. "What he said." He proclaimed, with a determined look of his own. Spectra gasped at the teenage hybrid's sudden appearance and all the other random ghosts that were within earshot of the scene turned to see the ghost-hero had returned and immediately took off with shrieks of fright before Danny continued speaking. "You were always low in feeding off of kids' misery, Spectra. But now you've resorted to bullying the parents as well?"

Spectra's evil smile came back before she spoke in return. "Danny Phantom. Nice to see you back." She said. "Now why don't you scram before I set my dog after you and that kid again."

Bertrand grinned broadly, dropping the woman's wallet, and morphed into a green rottweiler attack-dog that pounced at them only a second after finishing the transformation. Danny picked the kid up again and flew out of reach just in time while charging up an ecto ray in one hand, still holding the child in his other arm. Once he and the boy were a safe distance away, he fired the plasma-ray at the rottweiler.

The morphed dog dodged the blast and then Spectra flew at the distracted ghost-hero. But just before she could reach him, Wulf suddenly came out of his previously invisible state and pounced the black entity right out of the air, and back to the ground.

"What the...!" Bertrand said in surprise as Spectra screamed like a banshee as this happened.

"Your dog can try, but does he have the required backup muscle, like _ours_ does?" Said a young, female voice off to the side.

Everyone turned in that direction to see Danielle standing where she had only a second ago been invisible as well. While Bertrand was looking at her with wide-eyed confusion and surprise, she shot her own plasma ray from her palms, hitting the green ghost dead on, forcing him away from Andrew's mother. Then she flew at the dog-impersonating specter, shooting more ecto rays while Wulf took care of handling Spectra.

With Wulf and Danielle keeping the evil apparitions at bay, Danny landed on the ground with the child in front of the concerned mother who had made it to her feet.

"Mommy." Andrew said excitedly as Danny transferred him to his mother's arms.

As soon as she had her son, she embraced him lovingly with her eyes still swelling up in tears, while her young boy clung to her neck. Then she looked at the boy-hero as he gathered up the scattered contents of her purse. "Thank you so much, Mr. Phantom." The woman said with much gratitude in her face as well as in her voice.

"Any time, ma'am." Danny said, picking up her wallet that Bertrand had dropped when he had morphed into the rottweiler. It was laying open on the ground and when Danny picked it up, he couldn't help but look at a picture in it of what he guessed was the woman's family that consisted of herself, her husband and the little six-year-old Andrew. "I know what it's like to feel that you may have lost someone you care for." He said, putting the wallet back in the purse and handing it to the mother.

"I'd imagine." She responded. "I heard that girl that was abducted from the high school was a friend of yours, right? And so was the mayor?" The woman asked, taking the purse.

Danny nodded. Then she looked passed the ghost-hero to where the tag-team ghost-fight was taking place, looking a bit confused. "Do you have a twin sister or something?" She asked, looking a bit confused. "And who's that black dog? You're pet?"

Danny followed her gaze. "Oh, yeah." He hesitated a bit and turned back to the woman. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll find the whole story in the newspaper soon. For now, just know that they're friends to this city, too." After a second of perplexed staring, the woman, nodded. Danny then rose into the air, slowly levitating in the direction of the fight, but still facing the mother and her child. "In the meantime, it seems I've got a lot of catching up to do. Spread the word that I'm back, will ya?" He asked. "It might get peoples' hopes up and spook some of these ghosts into just leaving."

The mother smiled and nodded in acknowledgment with, "That I will, Danny Phantom." Andrew waved up at the young hero in farewell and in thanks and Danny gave him and his mother a small solute before speeding off to help his cousin and furry friend with the two enemies of his.

Just as he arrived at the scene, Danielle had just gotten pounced on and pinned to the ground by the green rottweiler. "I'd get off her, you drooling mutt." Danny remarked, setting foot on the ground. The four fighting specters turned to see Danny had arrived. Wulf especially perked up at the remark the ghost boy had made. "Sorry Wulf, I wasn't talking to you." He quickly said. With that, Wulf shrugged and continued to fight the black ghost.

As Bertrand was distracted by Danny's arrival, Danielle shot her plasma rays from her eyes. The rays hit, the green attack-dog right in the face and he reared up on his hind legs from the pain. Danielle took the chance to then charge up one of her feet and kick the shape-shifting assistant off of her the rest of the way. Then she stood back up as the green animal changed into his standard ghost form, covering his face where it burned from the blast. When he finally looked up at the girl…she and Danny had disappeared.

Bertrand gasped and looked around frantically for the two, but then was blasted from directly below him as both the Phantoms came up through the ground under him, shooting plasma rays from one hand each. Bertrand went shooting up high into the air and tumbled back down to the ground with a hard thud.

"Oh, rats. I don't have the Fenton Thermos with me." Danny exclaimed to his little cousin after searching himself for it out of habit. Bertrand was just getting up too and looking angry.

But before the change-link could attack again, a violet energy was shot at him and engulf him. Then the energy suddenly pulled him off to the side towards…

"Valerie." Danielle exclaimed excitedly as Bertrand was sucked into the small device she had seen her use before.

Danny beamed at the sight of the red and black suited ghost-hunter before looking to where Wulf was still fighting Spectra. The Phantoms hurried to help and flew to the other side of the battle. "Val, catch!" Danny shouted as he and the clone shot Spectra unexpectedly from the side, sending her flying towards Valerie. Valerie directed the device at the black ghost who got sucked into it with a protesting scream.

The teenage ghost-hunter, looked up at the two cousins with the utmost relief on her shielded face. "You're back." She said, smiling up at them and reattaching the ghost-catching device onto her belt. Danielle grinned at her with a side-glance at Danny. "And what about Sam and Tucker?" The armored teenager asked.

"They're safe." Danny responded, landing in front of her. After looking over her for a second though, his expression turned to one of concern. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Danielle soon followed suit when she noticed that Valerie looked quite exhausted. "Wow, you look awful." She commented over Danny's shoulder. "Have you been up all night fighting ghosts or something?"

"Pretty much." Valerie said with a sigh. Before she could say anything else, the built in scanner on her arm suddenly sounded. She opened the panel to examine it. Evidently, there were still some specters inside the mall that were wreaking havoc. Before the four started towards the building, Danny suggested that Valerie go home and get some rest. But she insisted on staying to help. "I'm feeling better now, in seeing you guys here." She had said.

Both Phantoms still were feeling a bit doubtful about their ghost-hunting friend's condition, but they acknowledged her motivation and headed towards the mall with her and with Wulf in hot pursuit.

Only seconds later, they all burst through the main entrance of the building. People were scattering everywhere: their fear driving them away from the scene of where another ghost attack must have been taking place. Valerie led the way through the panicked crowd with her scanner until they saw several ghosts emerge from the stores carrying stolen merchandise. But these were mainly the kinds of ghosts that fled at the sight of Danny, so they were easily dealt with and caught in Valerie's means of confinement.

Soon, the four decided to split up and take opposite sides of the building. Danielle looked enough like the original ghost-hero to have the same, _flee-on-sight_ effect on the enemy ghosts. Any others that were brave enough to oppose her, she was able to deal with on her own with Wulf as backup. Danny and Valerie took the other side of the mall. Within only minutes, the majority of the evil specters had either flown off or were captured in Valerie's version of the Fenton Thermos.

Danny and Valerie shared a high five in a job well done, but then they heard a single hard note of an electric guitar. Visible sound waves from the music note sent the ghost-hybrid and ghost-hunter flying back and hit the wall next to another entrance of a shop. When they regained themselves, they saw Ember McLain walk out of the music store. The hypnotizing rock star ghost had flaming blue, pony-tailed hair, pale skin, and a black, punk outfit with metallic boots. she carried her purple, electric guitar with which she had fired the powerful, spectral vibrations.

Several people in the music store she had hypnotized were cheering her on while removing music albums from the shelves and replacing them with her own spellbinding tunes.

"Well, well. Look's like the famous Danny Phantom has returned." She said, grinning evilly and turning a dial on her guitar to a picture that looked like a clenched fist. "How about a _welcome back_ concert." Then she stoked her guitar again, this time emitting powerful vibrations that unified into the figure of a giant fist that sped straight at Danny and Valerie.

Danielle and Wulf had finished business at their end of the mall, so they were able to come just in time to witness Ember's attack on their two friends.

As they successfully dodged, Danny saw them there and nodded towards Danielle who nodded back before turning invisible.

"Hey, thanks Ember." Danny said sarcastically to the teenage rock star. "Seeing as this is a special occasion, I don't suppose you'd be willing to take number requests _now_." He landed back on the floor next to Valerie and tensed up. "How about two against one?"

Ember simply cocked an eyebrow as Wulf came up to join the two in battle preparation. "I think you must have forgotten how to count, pop-boy." She said, mockingly, referring to Wulf as being a third. "Still, the request hardly seems fair." Then, playing a series of small notes on her guitar, she used her music to make the hypnotized customers fall in a line behind her, like an army reporting for duty. "For _you_ anyway." She added. But just as she was about to strike another note on her guitar, Danielle's voice came from behind her.

"Then why don't I even out the score." She said. Ember turned around, confused, but just before she could see who was speaking, a green plasma ray from that direction nailed her, forcing her down to the floor on her back and accidentally throwing her guitar up and behind her. Danny caught it and snapped it in half over his knee.

The result of this broke the spell on Ember's victims who started looking around, confused at where they were and how they gotten there. Their expressions turned to surprise when they saw Danielle, floating a few feet above the floor with a green, glowing hand from which she had fired her plasma ray. "By the way, he meant two _Danny Phantoms_ against one you." She said to Ember, blowing out the remaining green vapor from her hand and folding her arms.

"Another Danny Phantom?" Ember inquired while sitting up.

"Dude!" Cried out one of the teenage boys who had just snapped out of the trance. "That's not just another Danny Phantom, that's a _girl_!"

"And the real Danny Phantom's back!" Said a teenage girl from the same crowd, pointing at Danny.

Everyone started to cheer, this time for Danny until Ember jumped to her feet with an angered expression. "Not for long." She said, as her eyes turned red and her flaming hair suddenly grew longer and hotter. She swung her head around emitting blue flames from her ponytail that bombarded the entire area. The Phantoms, Wulf and Valerie were able to duck in cover just in time and no one else was hurt, but several things had caught fire and people started to scatter in fright again.

Danielle managed to make her way to where Danny was taking cover behind a display shelf by another store in the midst of Embers blasts. "Sheesh. Is she always this hot-headed?" She asked him.

"Pretty much. Especially when she gets canceled." The ghost-boy responded with a nod. "So what say we cool things down a bit." He added, and then he held up his hands, charging a blue aura in them before standing up from behind his cover and releasing his Phantom Phreeze on all the places that had a blue blaze to them. Then he lifted off the ground and shot a ray of the cold energy at the cause of the fires. Ember recoiled as she was encased in a block of thick ice. But then her hair defrosted it and she broke free.

But that didn't matter, because just then, Danny's parents came around the corner with their Fenton Bazookas and fired at the ghostly rock star. This unexpected attack hit Ember right in the back and offered more time for Jazz, Tucker and Sam to suddenly appear from around another corner on the other side of Ember with their own ghost-hunting gear. Including a Fenton Thermos, which Sam gladly used to bring in the teenage hypnotist.

"Hey guys." Danny said happily as he landed in front of his gathering peers. "What are you all doing here?"

"We just thought you might want some additional help, little brother." Jazz said, as Sam recapped the Thermos.

"Um…Danny?" Danielle nervously said, taking her cousin's arm and shaking it to get his attention. Danny and his family started looking around in response to Danielle's indication, realizing that the customers of the mall were starting to emerge from their hiding places, now that the battle was over. Soon they would all start crowding around Danny and start asking endless questions on where he had been all this time and where Danielle came from. They didn't have time for a full explanation right now. Not with so many other ghosts on the loose.

"Wulf. Dani. Little help." Danny said in an urgent whisper. Then he hastily grabbed the arms of Sam and his father, turning them intangible with him and sunk through the floor. Danielle followed suit in taking Valerie and Mrs. Fenton and Wulf took Jazz and Tucker. Phasing through the ground with them, they escaped the crowded area before it could turn into a pursuing mob.

**_My sister Blackjay's favorite ghost enemy is probably Ember. She especially likes the boots with the skull faces as the soles._**

_**Well, there's more to come. I really hope this chapter turned out okay for you guys. It was a lot of fun coming up with these catch phrases that have to do with both Phantoms. Unless you think they're cheesy or really lame.**_


	15. Divide and Conquer

_**The fight for Amity Park continues. And now Danny has the help of his entire family and his two best friends in addition to his female clone and ghost-hunting schoolmate to help clean up the town. And let's not forget the viciouse and yet friendly pal Wulf. But don't get your hopes up. There's still a lot to do. And don't forget. After the job is done, Danielle's going to have to explain herself being half-ghost to Danny's family. **_

**Chapter 15: Divide and Conquer**

The Fentons and friends phased up through the concrete of the parking lot of the mall where it was much more open and less crowded. If crowded at all. Danny and everyone else felt so relieved in getting away from the curious shoppers just in time: At least until they noticed another green ghost fly by a distance away.

Danny exhaled in frustration when he saw it disappear down a nearby alley. "Okay, I know I've always hated spring-cleaning, but this is just ridiculous." He said.

"You're telling me." Valerie put in. "_I've_ had to deal with it all since you left, and it hasn't exactly been a picnic."

Tucker now stepped forward to put in his own comments "If the rest of the town is as bad as _this_ place was, we'll probably have to skip school tomorrow to finish the job."

Danielle almost started nodding in agreement, even though she didn't really go to school, when she just remembered, "it's _Saturday_ tomorrow." She stated to everyone aloud.

Tucker, Sam and Danny looked at her for a second, almost in disbelief, before Tucker checked the calendar on his PDA, which he had picked up before rejoining them at the mall.

Sam looked over his shoulder to see the screen herself. "Wow. Freakshow was really holding us hostage for almost a whole month?" She asked aloud. And turning to Valerie who was the only one who really knew well enough.

When she nodded, Tucker put his PDA in his pocket, saying, "Well I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to spend an entire weekend having to stop a whole ghost invasion force."

"I second that." Jazz agreed. "But if there are really that many ghosts around, how are we supposed to get them all cleared out by the end of the day?"

Danny rubbed his head thought. "We'll probably have to split up." He suggested, rather reluctantly before adding with a shrug, "We'll at lease cover more ground faster if we do that." When no one could think of a better plan, everyone nodded in saddened agreement. They had just all gotten together again after a terrible ordeal that some of them had barely survived and now it appears that they would have to separate again.

"Have anything in particular in mind?" Valerie inquired, stepping towards Danny.

After Danny took a second to think, he came up with a suggestion that he then voiced to everyone else. "Let's divide into three groups. Wulf, Danielle and I can each go with one group in case of the need of ghostly backup. Agreed?" Everyone voiced in approval before the male ghost-hybrid turned to his parents in having a recollection. "Mom, Dad, do we have any spare Fenton Phones?"

"In the RV." Maddie answered. She went to where the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle was apparently parked, retrieved a few extra of the ear phones, and handed them the her son.

After Danny thanked his mother, he started to give out assignments. "Okay, let's see." He said in a second of contemplation. "Tucker. Since you know Esperanto the best, Wulf will go with you and Sam." This was also the best idea because aside from himself and Danielle, Sam and Tucker were the ones that were most comfortable being around the spectral dog. Unlike his family and Valerie who were always giving glances of uncertainty at the huge beast. The two friends nodded in acknowledgment to Danny's orders and walked over to where Wulf stood on his back legs. "You guys can ride on his back to get around town quickly." At this suggestion, both his friends looked up at the giant spectral dog. He had never let them ride on his back before. Danielle was the first one among them who ever did. And she had only just met him two nights ago.

Danny turned to his father next. "Dad, I'll go with you and mom." He instructed. "We can take the Fenton RV and I'll fly outside it to cover you in case of any surprise attacks." It felt a bit strange to be giving orders like this to his own parents, but they smiled and nodded in response to him all the same. He had been fighting ghosts long before they even known about it. They had faith that he knew what he was doing, so they followed his lead.

Now Danny turned to his little cousin, who was looking a bit uncertain. "Danielle." He said, getting her attention. The clone quickly looked at him as if she was previously being distracted by something else. "You take Valerie and Jazz with you, okay?" He handed her a Fenton Phone as he finished.

"Umm…okay." Danielle said hesitantly, with her eyes shifting nervously at Jazz.

Danny had a feeling he knew what she was being so afraid of, but he would address that later. "We'll be able to stay in touch with these in case something happens that any of us need more help with. And we can all check up on each other's progress." He continued, indicating the Fenton Phone he had just given her. Danielle twirled the little gadget around in her fingers, examining it, before nodding shyly in acknowledgment. Danny then gave the other Phone to Valerie. Everyone else already had their own.

As Valerie was taking off her helmet to insert the Fenton Phone in her ear, Danny scratched the back of his head, having another thought. "Okay. I know you can fly Dani. And Val, you have your glider, but how's Jazz going to get around with you guys?" He asked.

As he was trying to think of a solution, Valerie spoke up. "She can ride with me on my jet sled, Danny."

"Will it hold two people?"

"I've never tried it with this one before, but I'm sure it'll be fine."

"And I can be a spotter to make sure she doesn't fall off or anything." Danielle volunteered quietly.

After a second of consideration, Danny suggested they test it out first. Jazz was able to fit nicely enough on the glider, standing behind Valerie, putting her hands on her shoulders. Valerie then flew around the empty parking lot, with Danielle flying alongside them, making just Jazz kept her balance. As this test run was happening, Valerie gave Danny's sister a few pointers to help so she could steer better. When they all felt they got the hang of it, Valerie steered the glider back to the others and Jazz hopped off.

"Okay." Danny started on again, rubbing his hands together and looking around at the team. "Now, Valerie. I'm sure since you've already been at this for a while, you probably know where the places are that need to be worked on first."

Valerie was able to project a holographic map of the entire city to point out the places in where it was most infested by the malevolent spirits. Aside from the mall, which was already just cleared out of spectral activity and City Hall, some of the other main locations were Casper High, Axion Labs and the park. Everyone then picked a location to begin at, and agreed to all meet back in Main Street. Everyone was then equipped with a Fenton Thermos, except Valerie since she already had something like it.

Sam and Tucker rode away on Wulf for Casper High. But just as everyone else was spreading out to start heading in their separate directions, Danny pulled his sister aside to have a private word with her. "Jazz, I know you're anxious to get some answers about Danielle, but could you maybe lay off on the questions until _after_ this is over?" He asked her.

Jazz looked over at the girl hybrid, who was standing out of earshot with Valerie, who remained afloat on her glider. "Well, okay." Danny's sister said respectfully. "But you _do_ owe us an explanation about her and this whole "cousin" thing."

"And you'll get one. You _all_ will. I promise." Danny said, raising his hands defensively but reassuringly. "Just, when we actually have _time_ for that story." Then he remembered something else. "Oh. And, uh..." He leaned in closer to Jazz and looked over at Valerie and Danielle, making sure they weren't listening and lowered his voice even more, "don't say anything about it to Valerie either. She also thinks Dani's our cousin."

Jazz spared a confused glance in her group's direction, but she nodded.

At that moment, Mrs. Fenton called for her son from the RV, "Come on Danny, lets get moving."

When Danny waved back at her in acknowledgment, he turned back to wish his big sister good luck. "You too little brother." Jazz replied. "And stay safe." Then Danny smiled at her and hurried over to the Fenton RV.

As Mr. Fenton drove it off to the park with Danny flying alongside it, Jazz made her way to where her own group was waiting. When she joined them, she noticed that Danielle was looking at her a bit nervously. When Jazz guessed why, she winked at her and said quietly to her, "don't worry, I won't say anything."

Danielle looked more relieved, though Valerie looked between the two in perplexity. But thankfully, the ghost-hunter just shrugged it off and helped Jazz to get on her glider before they flew off together to Axion Labs.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the tall, metallic building that Valerie's father ran. They hovered in the air overlooking the company, seeing that there were indeed many ghosts there. Even though the apparitions couldn't get inside the labs, because of special ghost-defenses the Fentons helped to put up, the ghosts still were persistent in getting in and still liked to hang around the outside for any opportunity to do so. Once in a while they would, and it was always chaos when it happened.

Before moving in, Valerie gave Jazz and Danielle some heads-up points on the layout of the building. Also, that Technus was one of the main ghosts that liked to hang around this area. In fact, according to Valerie's scanners, and to her shock, he had somehow managed to bypass the security while she was away and was inside right now.

"Oh, no. Daddy." Valerie blurted when she read the scanner on her arm.

Though Jazz and Danielle did feel her urgency to get inside and help, Jazz pointed out that they couldn't just barge in without a plan. Besides, Danielle may have heard of Technus in the news-stories about the battles Danny had with him, but she still wasn't fully aware of what he was capable of. Luckily, Jazz had read Danny's ghost-files on his computer at home, so she had the best idea about him and was at least able to give the ghost-girl a quick rundown on his basic abilities in controlling any kind of electronic devices.

Still, though Jazz had gotten familiar with Technus' battle strategies in watching Danny's battles both on the scene and on the television, she warned the ghost hybrid that this particular ghost still liked to surprise them with new machines he could put together with the technology around him. And since he was inside Axion Labs now, who knew what he might be able to whip up this time.

But with Danielle on their side, they would probably be able to pull a few tricks from their own sleeves. Both The Phantom cousins still differed in battle tactics as well as ghostly capabilities, despite their many similarities. Danielle remembered her and Danny's conversation back in the cabin about how she was able to use her powers in ways that he couldn't, even though he had the ice power and the ghostly wail. Now she was starting to get an idea that built off of that concept. And this was the perfect chance to test it out while taking care of these outside ghosts before going inside to deal with Technus himself.

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Technus cackled wildly as he floated around the main lab, collecting anything electronic he could get his hands on. His gray cape with a cut at the shoulders that would remind anyone of bat wings, flowing behind him as he went. Underneath the cape, he wore a long black overcoat and boots. The green gloves he wore matched the color of his skin and he had his white hair in a mullet. Though black panels that looked like sunglasses covered his eyes, you could still see his evil look of triumph that spread across his pointed face.

Mr. Gray, Valerie's muscular and African-American father, had glasses and a black mustache. He had on the typical businessman look that consisted of a white, button-up, short-sleeve shirt and black dress-pants and shoes. At the moment, he, as well as several employees of Axion labs, sat in various places of the main lab tied by power cords that had been spread across the floor to connect certain machines for experimental purposes. Others were buried in heavy metallic rubble, making them immovable otherwise. So the employees at Axion Labs could only sit around and watch as Technus continued to raid the whole place.

"Well, it's been a wonderful day of work, hasn't it Mr. Gray?" The humanoid ghost said to the head of the company as he hovered towards him with multiple gadgets floating behind him.

"Hey, Techno ghost! Stay away from my dad!" Said a female voice just before an anti-ghost weapon was fired at Technus. The green-skinned apparition cried out in surprise as a ray of violet energy suddenly blew him back.

Valerie flew into the room on her glider and hurried to her captive father. She made the glider disappear beneath her feet, landing on the floor beside him. "Daddy. Are you okay?" she asked, pulling the power cords off that he was wrapped in.

"Yeah, I'm fine now, sweetie." Mr. Gray confirmed, standing up and dusting off the front of his clothes.

"But _you_ soon won't be." Technus said to the red-and-black suited ghost-hunter. Then he suddenly pixilated into a green and blue, digitized cloud that seemed to have some sort of visible binary-code and flew at Valerie, attempting to overshadow her.

Valerie screamed, shielding her face with her arm to brace from the attack, but as soon as the binary cloud made contact with her, it suddenly bounced off of her armor with an unexpected clang.

Technus reverted back to his more humanoid form. "Huh?" Technus exclaimed, shaking his head to clear it from the impact. "What's the big idea?" He held holding his now hurting cranium looking a bit off balance for a second.

"You like upgrades, don't you?" Valerie said, taking on a rather bragging look. "You may have made this suit for me without me knowing for a while, but my dad and the Fentons helped me to make some modifications to it, especially for you. Overshadowing me, or any of the technology _on_ me, is off limits." She folded her arms, finishing with a smile.

Nervousness after learning this fact could be seen in the ghost's face. But then it disappeared when his eyes rested on the computers and gadgets that were spread in every corner of the lab. "I can't take control of _your_ stuff," Technus began, while rising into the air. "But I've got all the stuff I need right in this room." He extended his arms out and a light-blue glow started to appear around his hands. About every single gadget and computer in the lab started to rise into the air, joining together in the center of the room in front of the ghost, until it all formed into a monstrous, robotic creature. "Behold." He proclaimed, presenting his finished work. "The latest in research and experimental technology: The…! The, uh…um." The gray-caped ghost struggled to find the right name for his new creation, but couldn't think of anything else that would fit. "…ttthhhheeeeeeee…_Calculator_!" He suddenly blurted, and finished with, "Version 5.0!"

"Is that _really_ the best name you can come up with?" Valerie asked, just keeping her arms folded and looking rather irritated with her raised eyebrow.

"Well…that…doesn't… matter because…this new machine can _calculate_ the odds of you being able to defeat me. None!" Then he let out his signature cackle again and sent the robot after the Grays.

Just as it started to power up a laser-cannon it had, Valerie pushed her father out of range and dodge-rolling out of the way, herself. The cannon barely missed them, blasting a big hole in the wall instead, but the _Calculator_ simply turned towards Valerie again and was about to shoot when it suddenly paused, making a humming noise of powering down. "What?" the manipulative ghost said, looking quite surprised as his armored creation began to sulk.

He started looking around wildly trying to identify the source of the problem when he spotted Jazz Fenton next to a breaker with a plug in her hand. The majority of the giant robot he had made consisted of computers, which required being plugged into an electric socket. And Jazz had just disconnected it. "Did it include _me_ in its calculations?" She asked Technus, with a mocking smile and throwing the plug aside.

Technus yelled in frustration, before Valerie said, "your robot has a lame name and it doesn't even run on batteries?" The two teenage girls started to laugh and even Mr. Gray started to join in before Technus started smiling.

"Maybe so." He said. "But _I_ don't have to run on _either_." Then he cackled again, digitizing into the blue and green, number-filled cloud and flew inside his creation of fused technology. With Technus controlling it, the _Calculator_ rebooted with no electric power source required. Everyone gasped as Technus' green face appeared on the screen that was supposedly the robot's head. "And now with all these electronics from this high-tech lab giving me a powerful suit of armor, I can now destroy you all." He proclaimed, ending with his familiar laugh. Then he aimed the laser-cannon at the Fenton, college girl who backed towards the wall in fear. "Starting with you, who tried to shut me down."

"Jazz!" Valerie called, jumping into the air and materializing her glider under her feet. Just as Technus was powering up the deadly weapon, she zoomed into action, grabbing Danny's sister and pulling her out of the way. The cannon missed yet again as it blasted a crater in the floor.

Valerie helped Jazz to stand up properly on the glider behind her and told her to hang on tight as she started speeding around the heavily armored specter, shooting it with whatever anti-ghost weapons she had. Nothing seemed to be working though, and anything that _would_ have an effect, Technus shielded himself from by using an Axion force-field generator he had also equipped the armor with.

Sooner or later, despite Valerie's advantage of being a much smaller and agile target, Technus was able to knock her right out of the air and she and Jazz went tumbling back down to the floor landing with a thud. But instead of aiming his laser-cannon at the two girls to finish them off, he powered it up with an evil grin and aimed it at Valerie's father.

"Mr. Gray! Run!" Jazz quickly shouted, but the wires on the floor suddenly wrapped tightly around the father's ankles in response to her suggestion, making him stumble when he tried to get out of range.

Technus laughed hysterically as the laser charged up again. But just before he fired, a green ray of ecto-energy came out of nowhere and forced the cannon to point upward and shoot the ceiling.

"Oho, you are _so_ going to pay for that. Both physically and financially." Said a voice from an unseen individual. Just after this was said, Technus started jerking back and forth as if being hit multiple times by an invisible being: which he was. Valerie took advantage of the ghost's averted attention by using her glider to fly up to the _Calculator's_ back and jump on. Then she removed a metal panel and found an emergency power switch that the research computers had in case of something like this and activated it.

She quickly sped away from jumped off the robot as Technus cried out in pain from an electrical surge that was going through him. An extra jolt shoved him right out of his new armor, which then disassembled to its original computers and gadgets that had constructed it. The outer structure of the computers were made out of a special alloy, so even though some of them dropped from several feet in the air, they still remained in good shape and functional. It was the _floor_ that got the damage as the electronics fell into a heap in the middle of the room.

Technus hovered a few feet above the pile for a second, holding his aching head until another green ray of energy hit him right in the back, forcing him to spin out of control and slam to the floor.

Everyone looked around completely confused, except for Jazz and Valerie who smiled mischievously (as well as sighing in relief on the inside).

"Wait, wasn't that a green, plasma ray?" Mr. Gray inquired aloud.

Technus was sitting up, rubbing his head as Mr. Gray voiced this. "A green plasma ray?" He repeated, standing up. "There's only one person I know who uses those so effectively. Danny Phantom!" Everyone in the room perked up at the confirmation, beaming.

"Well not _the_ Danny Phantom." Said the source of the voice. Technus turned, facing wher he knew it was coming from. "But close enough." And Danielle Phantom became fully visible while landing on top of the now motionless computers that once made up a high-tech fighting machine.

Now everyone accept Valerie and Jazz really _did_ look confused. Especially Technus. At least until his expression turned to an angered one. "No matter. Whether or not I would run into any kind of Danny Phantom or not, I've been preparing for it." Technus then extended a hand towards the girl who braced herself. Long strands of thick wires abruptly broke out of the inside of the wall behind her and the ends wrapped around each of her wrists.

"Wha..? Hey!" Danielle protested as she tried to go intangible to break free of them. But she couldn't. Danny would have known that any technology that was fused with Technus' power could not be phased out of. Personal experience had taught him this. But Danielle didn't have the kind of familiarity with this enemy as her cousin did.

The long wires yanked her backwards and strapped her to the wall by her wrists. Before She could use her plasma ray from her hands to try and break free, Technus made two special gadgets come out of some other place in the lab. They seamed to be some kind of restraining device and they wrapped around the girl's hands preventing her from building up the ghost energy she needed to escape.

"And don't try duplicating your form to get out either, because it won't work." Technus said, floating towards his now captive opponent.

Danielle looked up at Technus with a perplexed look as he stopped about a yard in front of her. "Duplicate my form? You mean, like, splitting into more than one me?" Then she looked in the direction of where Jazz and Valerie stood. "Danny can do that?" She asked.

Jazz shrugged before answering. "It took a lot of practice, but yeah, he can do it _now_."

Technus looked between the Phantom look-alike and the original Phantom's sister and started to smile. "So even though you _look_ a lot like the original, he still has powers that you don't? Interesting." He confirmed out loud, rubbing his chin. Then he bent down until his face was level with the young hybrid's before adding, "And now you can't even use your hands."

He started laughing again, but Danielle just rolled her eyes at him and performed a front-snap kick with her foot that was still free, enhancing it with an ecto-charge. The kick hit Technus right in the chin, forcing his face away from hers, and she charged her other foot, pushing him away from her with another kick.

Technus lost his concentration on the wires from the sudden blow and the restraints that were keeping Danielle pinned to the wall wilted allowing her to break free. "You forgot to watch the feet." She said, floating away from the wall and smiling. Jazz and Valerie cheered for the young ghost from the other side of the room.

"Concentrating your ghost-energy through your feet too, huh?" Technus said, dusting himself off. "Impressive." And he extended his arms out in a controlling gesture again. The ends of livewires elevated into the air and drew nearer to the captured lab scientists that were still wrapped in the power cords.

"No. Daddy!" Valerie cried out as some of the wires threatened Mr. Gray as well. At the same time, the power cords on the floor suddenly wrapped around the armored ghost-hunter and Jazz as well, strapping them back-to-back. Both of them struggled against the cords as more of the dangerous wires drew close to them.

Danielle looked around at the scene fearfully, knowing that if any of them moved, the chances of them getting electrocuted with at least 10,000 volts was very great.

Technus laughed in seeing this look on the girl's face. "If you can't multiply like the _original_ can…" He began. "How are you going to save your friends and all these other people before I destroy them all?" The ends of the dangerous cords rose closer to the people's faces, enhancing the threat.

However, to Technus' surprise, Danielle was smiling now. "Good question." She answered. "How about I just do _this_." The ghost-hybrid brought her knees up to her chest level, charging the soles of her shoes with green energy. Then as if pushing off of an invisible surface in the air, she suddenly shot ahead with a continuous emission of the plasma ray from her feet, which rocketed her ahead like booster-jets, giving her speed that would match that of the fastest aircraft invented.

Technus only hovered where he was with his mouth hanging open and his eyes widened in complete surprise as the female Phantom shot around the room like a super fast pinball. As she went, Technus' captives were pulled free of the cords and pulled out of the way of the dangerously sparking wires. This all happened within seconds and Danielle was moving so fast, she was nothing but a black-and-white blur, tailed by a bit of bright green.

Only a millisecond after all the workers of Axion Labs were free, including the Grays and Jazz, Technus was rammed right in the stomach by the bullet-fast blur. Danielle only halted in midair after delivering the hit.

As the enemy specter was trying to recover, Jazz took out the Jack-o-Ninetales she had with her and fired it at Technus. After he got wrapped in its cord, Jazz yanked the handle, swinging the ghost around until he came over to Valerie who had taken out her ghost-catching device.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Technus shouted as he was caught in range of the device. His objecting cry only faded as he fully disappeared inside it.

"Yes." Valerie said, reattaching the gadget to her utility belt and looking up at Danielle who was floating over to her. "Way to go Dani, that was awesome." She said in congratulations. The red-and-black-suited teenager was about to say more, but then she stopped when she noticed that the young hybrid looked a bit tired. Danielle landed in front of her, hanging her head and, putting her hands on her knees taking deep breaths of apparent weariness. "Are you okay?" Valerie asked, extending a concerned hand towards her.

Danielle nodded with a reassuring smile. "Yeah. That just took a bit more out of me than I expected." Then she looked down at her feet, as if examining the top of her shoes. "I can't believe that worked."

"You mean you only thought of that super-speed thing just now?" Jazz asked as Danielle straightened up again.

"Well, I got the idea just before we split up to take care of the ghosts _outside_ the building." Danielle informed. "I guess I just need to be a bit careful of how much power I use doing it." She looked down at her hands, feeling a bit amazed in herself. "It felt really cool going that fast though."

Jazz smiled feeling quite impressed with the young girl's brilliance. "Just don't wear yourself out too fast before we finish the job." She recommended, patting the young girl on her shoulder with a laugh.

"Speaking of which," Valerie put in, getting their attention. "Technus was the last one here. Let's call Danny and give him a progress report."

To reply, Jazz raised her hand to her ear and pressed the _talk_ button on her Fenton Phone, speaking into the mike. "Jazz calling our ghost-hero. Axion Labs is clear, and we're moving on."

"Ghost-hero?" Mr. Gray inquired, approaching the three girls. "As in Danny Phantom?" His voice got more excited as he said this. "He's back?"

"Yep." Valerie answered her father with a confirming nod. "And so is the mayor and Sam Manson from school." Mr. Gray beamed down at her and the other employees started to mutter excitedly in hearing this news.

"And we have a little cousin here who helped their return slash survival even possible." Jazz said, putting her arm around Danielle who was a bit startled by the gesture.

Mr. Gray smiled warmly back at the black-and-white jumpsuited girl. "Then I think all of us here at Axion Labs also owe you a debt of gratitude, young lady. If not all of our lives." He extended out a hand for her to shake it. Danielle looked at it hesitantly for a moment, but she eventually smiled in thanks and took it.

Valerie's father and the employed scientists had overheard their conversation after Technus was captured and seemed to have already gotten a clue that the three girls still had work to do in the rest of the city, so they didn't ask any more questions. (Much to Danielle's relief.) With that, the workers volunteered to put the equipment Technus had used for the robot back themselves and Danielle took Jazz and Valerie's hands, turned them all intangible, and flew up and through the ceiling while expressing words of farewell.

Once they were on the roof, Valerie activated her glider, Jazz got on behind her, and the three headed off to another infested location.

As the three girls flew away from the Gray's company, Danielle was feeling better in not having all of the same powers as Danny. He had been right. Even though he had a few special powers that she probably would never be able to master like he did, she still had her own abilities that made her just as unique as anyone. Especially the person she was cloned from.

_**I don't know about you but I'm really proud of myself for coming up with the booster-rocket thing Danielle figures out how to do by the end of the chapter. When I expressed the idea to Blackjay, she was pretty excited about it. Well, the ghost fights will continue as soon as I can get things updated again. **_

_**Thanks for all your support. I'm glad those who have commented on the one on my sister's account like it. I'd love to hear your opinions on what your favorite parts are so far.**_


	16. Business with the Warden

_**Disclaimer: Butch Hartman owns the show Danny Phantom as well as all of it's characters. (Except for the older version of Danielle that R(dot)tistiC made up and that you can still see on livevideo under R(dot)tistiC's channel.)**_

_**This is the last chapter with the fight to reclaim Amity Park. Please enjoy.**_

**Chapter 16: Business with the Warden**

Danny was in the middle of scaring off some other ghosts in the park when he had gotten the message from his sister that they had gotten Axion Labs successfully taken care of. Things seemed to be going well at the high school too with Wulf's group. Sam reported that people were scared of the huge dog, but having all the students out of the way made the job easier as far as staying risk-free goes. It was best that other people weren't in the way and having a greater chance of getting hurt.

Apparently, they had an ordeal with the Lunch Lady who was throwing another tantrum about another change in the school's lunch menu and had barely avoided becoming mincemeat. Literally. They also nearly got run over by Johnny 13 who was revving it up in the halls on his motorcycle, flirting with the senior year girls (his ghost girlfriend Kitty wasn't too happy about that) and sending his bad luck shadow on anything that would cause additional mischief. But with Wulf's frightening exterior and the two teenager's ghost-fighting experience in battling alongside Danny for so long, Sam and Tucker were able to turn things around in both cases of these constantly trouble-seeking ghosts.

As for Danny and his parents, the park was deserted of any picnickers and kids who usually played Frisbee because of the many ghosts that now haunted it. The majority of them were the kind that fled before the presence of a Phantom, so it wasn't that difficult to clear them off. At least until Skulker sprung a trap on the ghost-powered teen, trapping him in a hunting net. It was practically the hunter's signature greeting for him.

"I was getting frustrated at first when there were suddenly no ghosts to do my target practice on. But when I saw that _you_ were the cause of the barren hunting grounds, I started to cheer up." The metal-suited ghost with a flaming green mohawk said with a triumphant smile at Danny through the net he was caught in. Then a blaster came out of his mechanical arm and he pointed it at the trapped boy. "I was starting to miss stalking my favorite prey." He said, preparing to shoot.

"Ehem."

Skulker turned, confused in hearing someone clear their throat behind him and saw… "The ghost-child?"

"In person." Danny proclaimed as Skulker looked between the Danny he had caught in the net and the Danny that was clearly behind him. Then the teen ghost-fighter suddenly zoomed at the "ghost zone's greatest hunter" side-kicking him right in the stomach and making him spin out of control, away from the other ghost-boy that he had just caught in the net.

Before Skulker's attack, Danny had split himself into four separate ghosts to spread out around the park and scare the ghosts off faster. This move was always difficult for him in the beginning because he had to focus on controlling, not only his own mind, but on physically being more than one person that each had their own minds and wills. But he had mastered the technique over the past year or two and learned to use it as effectively as even Vlad Plasmius himself. He just didn't use it that often because most of the time, he needed all his combined strength when fighting certain ghosts. And his strength diminished a little with each copy he made of himself. In order to make the duplicates, he had to divide his power evenly between them. So none of the copies he made were ever as strong as they were when they were one individual. Still, it came in quite handy when fighting multiple enemies he knew he could handle easily.

Skulker had only attacked one of these duplicates that were frightening the more cowardly ghosts and the other three Danny's rejoined to help the fourth out. After getting Skulker out of the way, all Danny had to do was touch the outside of the net to have the trapped multiple of himself fuse back into him, emptying the net and building his original strength back to what it was before he split himself into four.

Skulker was one of the ghost-boy's toughest enemies. Even with his full strength back, he still had a bit of difficulty with this last specter that lingering in the park. In his past battles with him, Tucker was usually able to hack into the hunter's mechanical suit to help him gain the advantage. But seeing that Tucker was in a different group at the moment, Danny had to come up with creative ways to avoid Skulker's numerous traps he had set all around the park and keep him busy until Wulf's group had arrived with the techno-geek.

At least he had his parents to help him with this. Come to think of it, even back when they didn't know his secret identity, what could he have done without their help? It was their inventions he had been using to protect the city and stop evil apparitions from harming people. It had just occurred to the eighteen-year-old that Danielle didn't really have any parents besides Vlad, and he was long gone now. Not that he proved to be much of a parent in the first place.

How could the young clone have lived without that kind of support Danny had grown up with? Was she able to make any other friends aside from himself and Valerie? Where was she always going after her previous visits to this town? Where had she been staying the last three years while she was away? He never was able to keep in contact with her, so he had no way of knowing what she had been up to all these years or what she was now planning after this was all over. But maybe he would have time to ask before she took off again. She would have to stick around long enough to explain to his family and friends about how she had no real relation with the Fentons. That was for sure.

Danny looked at his parents who were currently armed with their handmade anti-ghost weapons. If Danielle didn't have any other place to stay, then…maybe…

He would have to ask his parents first of course after they explained who and what she really was and how she came to be. And he didn't know how Danielle or his friends would react to the idea he had in mind. But after this whole ghost problem was taken care of and they had a bit of time for a break after such an intense series of events, they would be able to talk it over properly.

It was only a short while before Wulf arrived with Tucker and Sam on his back and the African-American friend was able to use his trusty PDA to take control of Skulker's metal exo-skeleton and purposely make him go into the Fenton Thermos.

With Skulker gone now, the park was now safe for the townspeople to visit again and Danny and Wulf went their separate ways with their assigned groups once more to take care of the rest of the town.

The ghost-fighting mission of the Fentons and their friends went on all throughout the day. Danny couldn't remember there being so many ghosts attacking all at once since the Ghost King had been released from the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. That all-powerful specter had an entire ghost-skeleton army at his disposal and used it to run down the entire city. But on the flip-side, in this current situation, most of the ghosts were afraid of both the Phantoms and the word that the ghost-hero was back with a bit of help seemed to travel fast, thus making the job much easier and take less time than it would have. There were some ghosts that gave all of them a bit more trouble than they bargained for, but whenever that happened, one of the other two groups were able to come to the needing one's assistance. Then they would part their separate ways again.

Danny especially got this problem of being taken advantage of. Sometimes, even though most of the ghosts were spooked at the mere sight of him, the bandages he had on his still-healing injuries from the fire seemed to make him seem more vulnerable. So ghosts would start gaining up on him all at once. But that also worked as an advantage to him because even though he _looked_ immensely weak on the outside, these ghosts thought they wouldn't even need their full power to take him out. But since yesterday, Danny was much stronger than he had been and that they were usually able to predict. In addition, he had the help of his parents and the people on the outer lines of defense, if it ever came to it.

Eventually, the three ghost-accompanied groups' efforts seemed to be paying off. The malevolent spirits haunting the whole city gradually decreased in numbers and their attacks became much less frequent. As the sun started to set, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton drove the RV along the lamp-lit road of Main Street with Danny flying just ahead of them. They kept a wary eye out for any ghost activity they may have missed.

"All right, Tuck." Danny said into his Fenton Phone that he had in his ear, when he didn't see any ghost attacks in his area. "What's the ghost-infestation status with your group?"

"We're just passing the Penitentiary." Tucker responded through the earphone. "Seems Freakshow's back in custody and it's all clear here of any ghosts."

"Jazz, what about _your_ group?" Danny now asked.

"We're at the docks and our cousin's just gotten introduced to the Box Ghost, but we should have him over with, in no time." He heard his big sister respond from her side. "Other than that, we seem to be all clear as well."

"All right." Danny said, excitedly and looking at the town clock tower to check the time. It was nearing eight o'clock "Nice job everyone. Looks like we'll be done even before night falls." Danny looked behind him and smiled at his parents who had heard the message with their own Fenton Phones and they gave him a congratulating, thumbs-up.

Danny looked ahead again, already thinking of getting to sleep after a long day of work when he suddenly gasped at what he saw himself fast approaching in front of him. Three green-skinned ghosts in black uniforms with metal helmets, armor on the shoulders, metallic gloves and utility belts were hovering in the middle of the street with red eyes and broad grins on their faces.

Before Danny or his parents could stop in seeing the unexpected roadblock, the three ghosts each raised a metal tube-like object, that anyone would have thought qualified as a police bat, and fired narrow rays of red energy from the ends at Danny.

"AAH!" He cried, as the beams hit him dead center and sent him careening backwards behind the Fenton RV. He landed on the hard concrete of the road, rolling to a halt that scraped some of his bandages loose, making the healing wounds bleed again underneath.

"Danny, are you okay?" He heard Sam's voice urgently through his Fenton Phone. The others must have heard him scream after getting blasted. "What's happening?"

But Danny had no time to answer before he looked up and saw the RV suddenly get hit from the side by a single blast of transparent, red energy. The Fenton family vehicle spun off the road, rolling onto its side and hit a streetlamp, which dented the roof of the van.

"Mom! Dad!" Danny cried out, getting up and immediately flying towards the overturned RV his parents were still inside.

He was just about to the window of the vehicle to look inside and see if they were both all right, but he was just then hit by another blast of red energy. The force of the blast blew him against a brick wall of a building that was alongside the street, scraping some of the burns on his back as he slid down it to the sidewalk. He shook his head to recover and looked up, seeing the one who had ambushed him and his parents.

"Walker." Danny said, getting up to his feet and looking at the ghost with the utmost loathing on his face. Walker may have had the business look of a respectable warden with his clean white tuxedo, black gloves, boots, and a hat, but Danny had known this ghost-zone jailer for long enough to not have any ability to stand for him lust for power and absurd way of keeping _law and order_. "I should have known I'd have to deal with "the law" before this was over."

"You're not the only one either, ghost-boy." Walker said in his western accent and pointing off towards the RV.

Danny looked in the indicated direction and gasped as he saw two of the three police-ghosts that attacked him phase into the RV where his parents were stuck. They shouldn't have been able to do that. Whenever his parents drove in that van, they always put up the ghost-shield for an extra precaution, and he knew they had put it up while driving along the street just now. Danny guessed that the crash must have damaged the generator for it, deactivating the shield and allowing the ghosts on the outside access to the interior of the van. The police-dressed ghosts come back out, holding Jack and Maddie, who looked quite a bit off-balance from the crash.

"No! Leave them alone!" The teenage ghost cried, again, flying to help his parents. But more of Walker's police forces suddenly appeared, blocking his way and surrounding him.

Danny looked around at the ghosts with a glare and then split himself into three different Phantoms. Then with the separate forms, he attacked the offending ghosts, shooting his green plasma-ray at them and forcing them away. Then he merged back into one and used his combined strength and some martial arts moves to fight off a few others. But then he was hit from the back and he tumbled to the ground again. When he was able to look up, he saw who had attacked him. "Mom?" He said, surprised.

She and her husband where holding their ghost-fighting weapons, but instead of helping their son to fight off the ghost-army Walker had set on him, they had turned the weapons on Danny. Just one look in their eyes helped Danny to understand why. They were glowing red and had an evil look in them that could only be accomplished by one of his ghostly enemies. Walker's men were overshadowing his parents.

Now, not only did the jailer ghost have Mr. and Mrs. Fenton on his side, more of the police ghosts started to appear from all directions on Main Street and closing in on the teenage hybrid.

"Uh…Attention all units. We'll need backup." He said nervously through his Fenton Phone before being suddenly attacked by several of the ghost-cops at once. There was no way he would be able to take on all of them at once, even with his ability to multiply.

As the young ghost-teen dodged, he relayed the situation to his friends over his end of the wireless connection and Sam and Tucker told him that they were on their way with Wulf. Danielle, Valerie and Jazz were still dealing with their own ghost problems but said they would also be there soon since the rest of the town was clean of spectral commotion.

In the meantime however, Danny would have to find a way to keep the ghost-army off of him and avoid getting _arrested_, so to speak. Skulker was one thing, but having to fight an entire army was no easy task. He may have fought this many of Walker's cronies before, but he had help those other times and even before the time of the Disasteroid, his parents, though working against him, were never fighting with Walker.

Danny kept glancing in his father's direction in hopes that he would find some hint of him resisting the ghost that had him possessed. He had been able to fight it once before while Vlad was trying to make a fool out of him. But even then, Danny had to remind himself that Vlad was able to get total control despite Jack's attempts to fight him out. The young teenager also supposed that his dad was only able to resist temporarily because Vlad thought the man to be a bigger idiot than he really was. So he probably didn't use his full power at first. These ghosts knew better than that, so they had completely overpowered both Mr. and Mrs. Fenton.

If Jack and Maddie had Specter Deflectors on, the evil ghosts inside them wouldn't have been able to overshadow them and turn them against him. But his parents had refrained from wearing them because it also prevented Danny from going near them. And for various other reasons, none of his other friends were wearing them in the fear of hurting the ghosts on their own side. But from the looks of things, having the metal belts would be a good idea. However, none had been brought along for this mission, so all Danny could do was do his best to until more help arrived.

Danny continued to dodge and fire back as he fought the army on his own, waiting hopefully for his friends to come in time to help him. As he raised his palm to fire another ecto-plasmic ray, that same arm was shot from the side, right where one of his bandaged injuries was. Danny cried out in pain, holding his arm where it hurt. This minor setback was his downfall. Before he could recuperate, several more shots from the police ghosts hit him where he was already injured from the fire the day before. The lone ghost-fighter fell to his knees as Walker's men swarmed around him from all angles and grabbed him.

Danny struggled against them, but there were just too many. Even if he could escape, his chances of getting completely overwhelmed again were great. As the police-clad ghosts kept him down on his knees with his hands pinned behind his back, Walker approached and took the boy's Fenton Phone from his ear. After examining it at eye level, the jailer grinned evilly at the ghost-boy and closed his hand around the communication device, crushing it in his firm grip.

"Now back to the prison for you, punk." Walker said, as his ghost policemen forced Danny back onto his feet with his hands still held firmly behind his back.

A they were about to cuff him, Wulf suddenly came speeding up the street on all fours in their direction and pounced on Walker with a mighty roar. Sam and Tucker soon came up the street in pursuit with Fenton Wrist-Rays and started blasting the ghost policemen away from their friend. This counter-attack came as enough of a surprise that Danny was able to fight the rest of them off with a giant burst of ecto-energy that he emitted from his whole body.

But he was still feeling weak from getting hit so many times prior, so he fell back down to his hands and knees once he was released. Sam quickly ran to his side while Wulf and Tucker continued to fight Walker and his police forces. "Danny, are you okay?" She asked as she took his arm and pulled him to his feet.

"Yeah. Thanks for coming." Danny said with a nod.

"So how do we get the ghosts out of your parents?"

Walker, by this time, had broken away from Wulf and had drawn near the two. "I'd conceder following the procedures of surrender if you're really feeling as tired as you look." He said.

Danny stepped in front of Sam, shielding her and glaring at his enemy. "Sorry Walker, but your in _my_ town now. And here, you don't make the rules."

"Perhaps. But _he_ does." Walker said, eyeing Mayor Foley who was helping Wulf with the ghosts a little way down the street. Danny and Sam both gasped, knowing what Walker was thinking when the warden of the ghost-jail suddenly flew in Tucker's direction.

Unable to stop the power-hungry jailer, all Danny could do was yell, "Tucker, look out!" But it was too late. Walker phased right into Tucker's back and started to overwhelm him. Tucker closed his eyes and held his arms around his stomach, trying to resist the powerful force fighting to take control of him. But once the teenage mayor's eyes shot open again, they started to glow with the deadly reflection of the ghost that now inhabited his body. "No!" Danny cried out, knowing that Walker had succeeded in taking complete control of his friend.

"Oh, yes." Walker said through the African American boy's mouth but in his own voice and western accent. Then he observed the Fenton Wrist Ray strapped on his arm. "Hmm. Nifty little gadget. This always worked so effectively against my employees. Let's see how well it works against _you_ and your friends." Then Walker used Tucker's body to point the handmade ecto-laser at Wulf and fired.

Danny stood, horrorstruck as he watched his doglike friend get hit. Wulf let out a painful bark before the force of the blast made him fall over.

"Wulf!" Danny cried before starting to fly to help him. But before he got far, another police-ghost phased up through the ground in front of him and grabbed him by the forearm as he tried to fly passed him. The next thing Danny knew, the uniformed ghost had him restrained again with his metal, tube-like weapon pointing under his chin and keeping him from reaching his hairy companion.

Danny tried to pull the ghosts arm off of his neck as he looked back at Sam who looked panic-stricken. "Sam, Run!" He shouted at her. But Walker heard this and sent Danny's possessed parents after the teenage girl. Soon, they had grabbed her as well and had their weapons pointed at her, threateningly.

The two teenagers could now only watch as Walker's men surrounded the giant creature and take out double-barreled, gun-like devices that Wulf was all too familiar with. Before the giant dog could do anything, the guns fired a violet energy, whose ends wrapped around the wrists of his front paws and his neck. On contact, the whip-like energy shocked him, making him let out a loud, doglike yelp of pain before being yanked backwards by the restraining energy on his neck. The spectral canine, fell onto his back and two more ghosts came out and threw a net over him, pinning him to the concrete of the road completely.

Danny watched helplessly as the same ghosts that had harmed Wulf numerous times before strapped him down once again. In hearing his black furry friend give off doglike whimpers as if desperate for help, Danny tried again to break free of the ghost that was keeping him from going to help his companion. "Stop it. Let him go!" He shouted at Walker in protest before the cop-ghost holding him nudged his weapon to the teenager's neck, threatening to shoot if he moved anymore.

"Sorry, ghost-boy. That would be against the rules." The jail warden responded, taking out a metal torture collar Wulf had once worn while in the ghost jail. The restrained beast recognized it instantly and Danny and Sam looked fearfully at it. Walker noticed their expressions and smiled even more broadly with Tucker's mouth. "Don't worry, kid. You'll be getting one of these too. And then it's back to the prison for the both of you." Then, still in complete control of Tucker's body, he knelt down to where Wulf's head was.

But before he could insert the collar around the dog's hairy neck, a sudden rush of fast blowing wind came from behind Danny and the ghost policeman that had a firm hold on him. A black, white and green blur had flown passed them and started bolting all over the street, ricocheting off of all the spectral cops, knocking them over.

"What in the…?" Walker exclaimed, completely stunned just before the blur suddenly hit him and the body he had possessed. There was a sudden burst of energy on contact that forced Walker to suddenly fly out of Tucker. The only thing it did to the teenage mayor was made him stumble after being released of the mind control.

The blur went on, heading straight at Sam who cringed in fright at its fast approach. But she barely felt a brush of wind, as the super fast entity seemed to bounce off Danny's parents with the same effect of the ghosts being ejected from their victims. Jack and Maddie also fell over after the ghosts were pushed out, but they weren't hurt.

Tucker and Mr. and Mrs. Fenton looked dazed and rubbed their heads wondering what had just happened and why they were now on the ground. Tucker in particular was confused how he had gotten hold of the torture collar that would have already been on Wulf's neck if the tables hadn't turned so suddenly.

The black, white and green blur raced on and now knocked the ghost-cop holding Danny away from him and proceeded to the ghosts that had Wulf trapped. The evil ghosts were too stunned to move before the black white and green mass hit them all with full force, deactivating the binding energy of the gun-like devices and releasing Wulf, who burst from the net with an enraged roar.

Valerie and Jazz came up behind Danny now, who was looking around, just as stunned and confused as everyone else at what had just happened and where that blur had now disappeared to. "What was _that_?" He asked the two girls who were grinning as if they knew something no one else did.

They started to hover on the glider just a foot above the ground next to him, and Jazz said, from over Valerie's shoulder, "Our little cousin's just got a new power."

Danny's eyes widened when he understood the meaning of what the college girl just said. "Wait, that thing was…?" but before he could finish, Walker hit him and Valerie's glider with another blast of his red ghost-energy. The three went flying backwards until they hit the ground. By the time they looked up, Walker was standing over them with his hands held authoritatively behind his back.

"Teaming up with a ghost-hunter and a super-smart sister, huh?" He commented, frowning down at the two girls who had just joined in the battle. "No matter. You'll be joining Wulf back at my prison whether you want to or not, Danny Phantom."

Then a young girl's voice said behind him, "Sorry to disappoint you," Walker turned around in surprise as the voice finished with, "But it's not going to be _that_ one today." Just one look at the source of the voice helped him to realize what the girl meant by _that_ _one_. Danielle Phantom was leaning up against the overturned RV with a confident smile on her face.

Walker cocked an eyebrow in confusion and looked between the two Phantoms. "So even the _ghost_-half has family." He said in confirmation.

"That's right." Danielle now stepped towards Walker while his army looked flabbergasted at her. "Now leave my cousin, _and_ his peers, alone." She warned with a glare.

Walker chuckled slightly at the girl's demand. "That would be against the rules, little lady."

"Well, your rules stink." Danielle folded her arms, frowning at the warden. "And they don't apply here." Then she tensed into a battle stance.

"We'll see how you feel when you join Wulf and your half-ghost friend in my prison." Then he directed his attention at his remaining policemen. "Get 'er." He ordered, pointing at the rebellious teenage girl.

As the uniformed ghosts started to surround the clone, Danny scrambled to his feet and argued from behind. "Hey, she hasn't done anything."

"Not yet." Walker responded, turning his head a little to look at him. "But seeing as the trouble-making streak seems to be running in your family, it's best to get her behind bars with you before she starts breaking the law like _you_ have a knack of doing."

The greedy warden looked back at the Phantom girl as his men continued to close in on her with their tube-like weapons at the ready, but she only grinned mischievously at them. "Don't count me out just yet." She said, before starting to hover about a foot above the ground. "Your goons have to _catch_ me first." Then with a continuous emission of green ecto-energy from her feet, she shot forward with lightning-fast speed, bouncing off the police-ghosts that surrounded her and then suddenly zooming up to Walker, stopping only inches in front of his startled face.

"Hi." She remarked with a wide eyes grin before grabbing the brim of his hat and yanking it down over his eyes. As he was struggling to get it off, she came around behind him and hit him from the back with a plasma ray from both her hands. He fell forward on the street with a thud as Danielle landed next to Danny who was looking quite impressed.

But then he looked at all of the army men who were getting up again. "There's no way we'll be able to get them all in a Fenton thermos." He said to his family and friends who nodded in agreement.

"So let's just skip that part and give them a one way ticket back to the ghost zone?" Tucker suggested. Then he quickly said a few words in Esperanto to Wulf who was standing on the other side of the recovering army and responded by extending his claws and slashing the air. Danielle looked surprised as Wulf tore a massive hole right in the air, making an opening to a scene that she recognized as a part of the ghost-zone.

Some of the police ghosts were starting to charge at Danny and his peers as he took a deep breath, and released his most powerful technique: His Ghostly Wail.

Wulf jumped out of the way and the ghost fighting squad hurried behind the ghost-hero, covering their ears as green sound-waves emitted from the ghost-teen's mouth, giving off an ear-splitting noise that shook the whole street and sent the entire ghost-army careening backwards. The powerful attack continued to pulse and the concrete underneath it began to crack from the loud wail as the ghosts were pushed back from the unbearable sound and flew through Wulf's clawed-through portal. Danielle used her plasma ray while the others used whatever weapons that were handy to force any ghosts that would have missed the hole to go in that direction and fly through the portal while shrugging their shoulders to their ears in an attempt to shield them from deafening noise Danny was giving off.

Danny felt his ghostly power, as well as his physical strength, start to give out as the last of the spectral police disappeared through the roughly made ghost-portal but before he lost too much energy, he let off the Ghostly Wail and Wulf's portal resealed itself, trapping the ghosts back in the ghost-zone.

The now exhausted teenager took a few deep breaths to recover from the emission of so much ghost power. When he was first learning that technique it would wear him out so much that he would change back to his human form. But he had gotten stronger since then, and even though it still took quite a bit out of him, he learned how to better regulate the constant pulses of the energy so he would keep his Phantom form if he wanted to and not feel quite as fatigued afterwards.

He felt several supporting hands grasp his shoulders, as he looked up to find that Walker was still there. He had ducked in cover, just out of range of the sound waves of Danny's Wail. But even though he wasn't blown back like his army was, he still looked quite dazed from the attack that shook the whole street. And he was the only opposing ghost left. The neatly dressed jailer seemed to realize this too, as he got to his feet, judging by the look on his white-skinned face.

"Who has the army _now_, Walker?" Danny said, breathing rather heavily from doing his Wail. Walker only glared at him determinedly, despite the fact that he was outnumbered and charged his gloved hands up with the red ghost-energy he possessed.

But before he could use it, Danielle phased up through the ground right under him with her enhanced sped, making him shoot several feet into the air before she delivered a powerful punch that sent him tumbling towards Wulf who caught Walker and pinned him to the ground. Everyone stood around the warden with whatever anti-ghost weapons they had at hand pointing at him. Then Tucker approached with a Fenton Thermos.

"Let's see how _you_ like being locked up." He said, as he removed the lid and pointed the Thermos at Walker's head. Wulf moved himself out of range as Walker was sucked into the ghost-catching device.

"And that's the last one." Valerie confirmed, looking over her spectral scanner. "As of now, Amity Park is officially ghost-free."

Valerie closed the keypad on her arm with a smile of satisfaction as Danny let out a huge sigh of relief, congratulating everyone for a job well done as he wiped sweat off his forehead. He was feeling so exhausted, he might drop at any minute. But it wasn't _him_ that did this. As eh was facing Danielle to thank her for her assistance, she was drifting back down to the concrete, breathing very heavily and drooping forward. Wulf's eyes widened and his ears perked up in awareness as he too watched this happen.

To Danny's surprise, before his young cousin was fifteen feet away from rejoining the others, she suddenly changes back into her human form, and started falling forwards.

Wulf was the one closest and reacted fastest. As the fatigued girl was losing her balance, he rushed up to her and her limp body fell across his furry head. Danny's family and friends gasped at her unexpected collapse and just as she was sliding to her knees off of Wulf's head, Danny quickly flew over and caught her from behind.

"Oh, the poor thing." Maddie said in pity as she and the others started to crowd around the two ghost-hybrids. "She must be completely worn out."

"She _did_ say that new power of hers took quite a bit of her own strength with it." Valerie said, bending over and putting her hands on her knees, looking down at the young girl as Danny gently lowered her down to the ground, keeping his arm wrapped in a supporting way around her shoulders.

"That super-speed must take as much out of her as my Ghostly Wail used to for me." Danny commented. Danielle moaned, putting her hand on her head as if she had a headache. Wulf whimpered, doglike and gently licked her face.

The ghost girl giggled from the friendly gesture and looked up at the people who surrounded her.

"Are you all right?" Danny asked in concern, sitting her up. Danielle only nodded, still looking too tired to even stand, but at least she smiled.

Well, if Valerie's and the Fentons' scanners were accurate, everyone would soon be just fine. All the ghosts were gone and it looked like the remainder of the night would be peaceful. After Freakshow's jailbreak, the kidnapping of Danny's family and friends, his search for them, his especially close encounter with death, and everyone's valiant effort of cleaning up the town of spectral mischief, the whole team agreed that they all deserved a good long rest.

With that, Valerie took off for home on her glider and Wulf turned himself invisible before heading back to his own home in the woods. After Danny flipped the Fenton RV back up again with his enhanced strength, he turned to his human form and everyone else hopped into the still functional van.

All of the kids fell asleep almost instantly in the back of the RV as Mr. and Mrs. Fenton rode in the front, driving home. Mrs. Fenton looked in the back where she saw Tucker and Sam, seatbelted in the captain seats behind her. Tucker was snoring loudly with his mouth hanging open and his head tilted back, but everyone else was just as sound asleep as he was and didn't even mind the snoring. Maddie looked further back to where her own children were sleeping in the back seat with their heads resting on each other. As for Danielle: the teenage, ghost-powered girl that she still didn't really know much about, was seated next to Danny sleeping with her head resting on the glass of the car window.

Maddie turned back to the front as they drove on through the now calm night, thinking. In seeing how Danny and that young girl had fought together against Freakshow, Ember and now Walker, it was clear that they both knew each other rather well. But how could three years have gone by without Danny even mentioning her to them? How did she get her powers?

Well, whoever she was, they would be sure to find out tomorrow when they were all rested. In the meantime, she, like Tucker and Sam, would spend the night with the Fentons.

After all, after the great service this girl had provided Danny as well as the rest of the Fentons and their friends, she deserved nothing less than to be treated the same as the member of the family Danny considered her to be.

_**Yay! The town's safe now and the Fenton family and friends finally get a break. For now. The Phantom's still have to explain Danielle's past and don't forget the Guys in White. But I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far. **_


	17. Ghost Stories

_**Now. Let's see how the explanations go, shall we? Please enjoy.**_

**Chapter 17: Ghost Stories**

Danielle woke up the next morning finding herself under warm covers and staring at a ceiling of a bedroom. The bed she was on was quite comfortable in comparison to the stone cave floor she had slept on a few nights ago. It was dark, but it only took a minute after she woke up for her to realize that she must be in the Fenton's guest bedroom. However, it was different than the one in the Op Center she had once been in the night she had first met Danny.

This must be in Danny's new house. Danielle didn't quite remember entering it the night before, though. She had been so fatigued from the full day of ghost fighting and the use of her awesome new speed power that she could only recall being guided from the Fenton RV to the spare room by…one of the Fentons. She couldn't remember which one.

The female hybrid remained lying in the bed, observing her surroundings. The lights were out, but there was still enough light to depict the room she was in. It was rather big and spacious to be any standard-sized bedroom. The bed she was on was in a corner and under a very large screen that was on the wall instead of a window. This, Danielle found a bit odd. Up against the other walls was the regular furniture that anyone put in a bedroom. To the right of the bed was the door that lead out of the room. Danielle could see the reflection of herself laying under the covers of the bed and her head resting nicely on the pillow in a tall mirror that hung on the closed door.

The young clone rolled onto her back with her hands put behind her head. Staring up at the ceiling again, she started to think back on the multiple events that had happened in the last few days: The Guys in White attacking her before she met Wulf, which was scary at first in itself, encountering Valerie and learning that Danny and his peers had been missing for up to almost a month, both instances with Freakshow…Danielle scoffed in amusement in remembering the surprised look on his face when she revealed herself to save Danny.

Wait. The girl's mind backtracked and she remembered how the Fentons had seen her transformation as well. They may have been patient enough to hold off on asking about her powers yesterday, but now that things have calmed down for all of them, they would be wanting answers.

She was just starting to think of how she could possibly explain herself to them when she suddenly heard a knock on the door. The knock was a soft one but the unexpected sound startled her a bit and she quickly sat up in the bed, turning towards the door. She noticed a strip of light coming in from under it, indicating that someone had turned on a light outside the room. The door slowly creaked open, letting more of the outside light flood into the bedroom until Danny's head peeked inside.

Danielle let out the breath she didn't realize she was just holding. She had been so sure it would be one of Danny's parents or even his sister. "Ah, you're up." Danny said, with a smile before opening the door the rest of the way and stepping inside. The light from the hall streamed into the room and laid across the bed and cast onto the back wall.

Danny's human form had the average look of the every day, teenage boy with a red and white t-shirt, blue jeans, and red and white tennis shoes. His hair, like Danielle's, was black and his eyes were the same shade of blue.

Danielle looked over at the alarm clock on the desk, noticing that it was just passed seven thirty in the morning. On Saturday. "What are you doing up so early?" She asked him as he approached the bed.

"Just thought I'd see how you were doing." He responded truthfully and greeting his female clone with a smile. "Sleep well?"

After nodding with a returning grin, Danielle bent her legs up under the blanket she was still covered in and put her hands on top of her knees. "But I dare say you needed the break more than I did." She said.

"Oh, I don't know about that." Danny replied, sitting down on the edge and at the foot of the bed. "From what I understand, you've been through quite a bit yourself." After a short but thoughtful pause, Danny then added, "Thanks for coming and bailing me out of those jams by the way. I don't think I'd have even gotten home with everyone else safe if you hadn't been there."

Danielle shrugged and answered with something the ghost hero had said to her after he had saved _her_ life two years ago. "That's what family's for, cuz."

Both of the ghost-hybrids giggled at the quote a bit before continuing to just talk and catch up on what they had both been up to before Danielle had decided to come to visit. Danielle just said how she had been going around fighting any criminal or spectral activity that Danny may have missed in other places of the world or wasn't able to attend to in time. And then she got to jump into the full story of her investigation with Wulf that led to Danny, after she found out from Valerie that he was missing. She also told of how she had figured out how to do her new speed power after splitting up into the three teams to help with the town's ghost problem.

Danny, in return, was able to explain in more detail and tell Valerie's story in his own words and from his own point of view. How after his loved ones had been abducted and he himself was led into a trap set by Freakshow until Danielle and Wulf came and saved him from the Blood Blossoms.

Soon the conversation came around to the house in which Danielle was currently in, and that the Fentons were currently living. The bedroom had the screen instead of any window because, apparently, the house was actually underground. Had there been a window there, there wouldn't be anything interesting to see anyway and no light would be coming through it. The Fentons had built a secret home that was undetectable by any kind of scanners, especially ones made by The Guys in White. The giant screen acted as the bedroom window to the outside and showed camera views stationed above the ground for the sake of surveillance, making sure that no unwanted company was sneaking around, trying to find them. So far, not even the Guys in White were even suspecting their new location. It was also nice to get a view of the outside with it once in a while.

Danny was just showing the young clone how to work the screen when Tucker came into view of the open doorway to the lit hall. His cast shadow on the wall was what got their attention before they turned to see him there. "There you are, Danny." He said, looking at his friend. According to the clock, it was now almost nine. Everyone else was getting up now. "Your mom has breakfast ready for everyone downstairs."

"Okay, we'll be down in a minute." Danny responded to Tucker. When the techno-geek left, Danny looked over at Danielle with a rather concerned look. "So, are you ready?" he asked her.

"For…what?" Danielle questioned back, but she already had a feeling that she knew what he meant.

"I promised them an explanation about you Dani, and they've been waiting patiently for one for over twenty-four hours, now."

Danielle spun her legs over the edge of the bed and sat on the edge, staying silent for a moment. "Do we have to tell them _everything_?" She asked.

"I think we may have to." Danny admitted. The clone sighed, looking down at the floor before she felt her cousin put a hand on her shoulder. "But relax, okay?" He said with a small laugh. "I'm a bit nervous too, but it's not like this is a death trial for you or something."

Danielle smiled at him, seeing the point in what he was saying. This may not end up being as bad as she was thinking. Who knows? Maybe even though she was made by the enemy who had threatened the whole Fenton family as well as the whole world in the time of the Disasteroid, they would look passed that, the way Danny did. There was really only one way to know for sure.

The cloned subject and his female copy left the room together and Danny led the younger down to the kitchen, where his family and friends waited. The smell of freshly made French toast could be scented as the two made their way to the bottom of the stairs and through the front room to the kitchen.

As Danielle was guided through the house, she noticed that this new Fenton Works had the same basic layout as the old one. It was just a whole lot bigger and there were no windows. Just the big screens that showed different views of scenes that were going on above the surface. In addition, instead of a front door, there was some sort of teleportation chamber: Or as the clone-girl guessed.

Danielle asked about it, but Danny told her that he would give her a grand tour of the new house before the day was up, and as soon as his family was satisfied with the information they were about to receive.

Danny's whole family, as well as Sam and Tucker, were all helping Mrs. Fenton get the last few items on the table for breakfast by the time the two hybrids entered the kitchen. As they started to gather around the table, everyone was starting to give Danielle strange looks, as if there was something about her that they were suspicious of.

No one started questioning about her powers until everyone was served, including Danielle, and was starting to eat. Mrs. Fenton was the one who started the first question of how Danielle had gotten her powers. Danny took the liberty of starting this one off. "Well…mom, you first have to understand that she didn't get them from a ghost-portal accident, like Vlad and I did." He began as he poured homemade syrup on his French toast. "In fact it wasn't an accident at all."

Danny's peers looked at him in confusion and then at Danielle who had barely started picking at her own breakfast. "You mean you got your powers from a voluntary experiment?" Jazz asked, looking a bit worried. If people were running tests on subjects to see if they could obtain their own ghost-powers, people's lives were at stake and the chances of some of those people becoming as evil as Vlad were growing astronomically.

Luckily, that wasn't the case, to Jazz's relief. "Actually, you might say I was _born_ with them." Danielle responded, a bit nervously.

"_Born_ with them?" Sam exclaimed. Sounding very surprised and looking at the Fentons.

Danielle didn't answer right away but thankfully, Danny cut in to help her out. "She's a clone, Sam. _My_ clone."

"What was that?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Say what?"

"A _clone_?"

Everyone started exclaiming all at once and in disbelief before Tucker put in, with his mouth full, and using his fork that had French toast stuck on the end, to point, "But she's a _girl_, and you're a…"

"I'm a faulty one." Danielle quickly clarified. When everyone just stared at her, she slowly went on. "I'm the result of an experimental attempt to make another Danny Phantom: Half-ghost DNA and all. …And…Vlad Plasmius was the conductor of it."

As expected, everyone gasped in hearing the feared name that was thought to have been forgotten. Danielle looked down with her anxiety growing as everyone started to mutter in astonishment.

When the chatter calmed down, Danny took the time to explain that three years ago, there was a time where Vlad was using surveillance technology to spy on him for research references in making the perfect clone to have as his own son. After several, failed attempts to make the perfect half-ghost duplicate, Vlad had discovered that he needed a proper mid-morph DNA sample from Danny in order to complete the primary clone he had been working on for months.

Danielle then took her turn in telling the story of how Vlad had sent her to assist in the capturing of Danny so attaining such a sample would be possible. To help lure the ghostly teenager into a trap, Danielle had snuck to Danny's house, claiming to be his third cousin once removed. She also put in the fact that she had been the one who delivered the blow that had knocked him out so Vlad could take him back to his research facility in Colorado.

"He was trying to get a clone to have as a _son_?" Jazz repeated, sounding skeptical after Danielle had relayed this information, and completely ignoring the fact that the ghost powered girl was once working for Vlad.

"Okay, that's a little insane." Sam added, also dwelling on the absurdity of the villain.

"A seriously crazed up fruit loop as _I_ phrased him to be." Danny responded.

"Oh, _did_ you?" Mr. Fenton said, and taking a bit of his French toast. "And how did _he_ react to that?"

Danny looked quite amused when he responded to this. "He basically blew up at me and tried to prove how he _couldn't_ be crazy because he was so clever in how he became so wealthy so fast with the use of his ghost-powers."

Everyone got a few additional laughs from this, which lightened the tension for Danielle a bit before she and the boy she was made from continued with their story with how Danielle had snuck in when Vlad was showing the clone he was working on to Danny. Also, how he had gone through perhaps hundreds of failures that had devolved into ectoplasm because they were so unstable.

Vlad had never even told her about the other clones. But it was frightening when she was starting to see all of them dissolving into nothing but green puddles of goop, knowing that she might do the same at any minute. And Vlad was doing nothing to stop it. When she had confronted the half-ghost villain about her concerns, he had tried to cover himself by saying that he wasn't talking about _her_ when he said that the other clones were all nothing but mistakes and told her that Danny's DNA sample was to help keep her from melting like all the other clones did. That she was his greatest creation and not the lifeless body that looked exactly like the original Danny. Later though, she talked to Danny and he proclaimed otherwise, that Vlad was just using her for his dirty work and that he had no intention of saving her from a fate she was dreading.

However, Danielle just called Vlad's captured subject a liar. Getting the proper genetic material proved difficult anyway because Danny's resistance against it was so powerful. Vlad tried several torturing methods before he came up with the option of getting Danielle to overshadow the boy and force him to transform so Vlad could get the sample. But the ghost powered girl had seen one of the other clones try the exact same thing only a moment before and Danny had resisted that successfully as well, resulting in the destruction of the clone. Danielle was afraid the same thing would happen to her. Even though she was certainly stronger than any of the other clones, she had already been getting unstable from using her ghost-powers to do other things and she had never tried overshadowing before.

As Danielle was explaining this, the memories started to become unbearable. She grasped her head between her hands as if trying to block out the memories. Danny noticed this and then finished off the story of how Danielle released him from the containment chamber he was being held in and helped him to fight off Vlad and destroy the good clone he had worked so long and so hard on. Danielle still remembered the murderous look Vlad had given her after that had happened. He wanted to rip both of the Phantoms apart after what they had done to his greatest work.

Danny and his female clone completed their tale and everyone had finished with their breakfast. There was a moment of silence in which everyone was either looking at Danielle in amazement or just looking down at their now empty plates as if trying to fully grasp what they had just heard.

"Well…" Jack finally spoke up. "That's quite a story." He got up from the table and casually took his plate over to the sink to rinse it off.

"And you were planning on telling us this, When?" Jazz asked her little brother, almost accusingly, as other people started to clear their own spots on the table.

Danny looked rather nervously at Danielle. "I'll take it from here." He whispered to her.

The little cousin of his looked down guiltily, hoping this didn't mean that he was in trouble because of her being so mysterious. "I'll be in the guest room, then." She said quietly and left the table to go back upstairs.

As soon as she was out of sight, as well as sure to be out of earshot, Danny turned back to his peers to answer his sister's question. "She wanted to keep herself a secret just as I did before the Disasteroid." He finally said. "She may be my clone, but she's still able to think for herself, unlike all those other clones Vlad made."

Danny's mother then responded, sounding compassionate rather than accusing. "And that's why you considered her a cousin, even though she had been working for someone as evil as _that_?"

Danny nodded. "And there's something else about that I've been wanting to bring up." He said. And his family and friends looked at him with undivided attention to what he was about to say.

000000

Later on, Tucker had returned to City Hall and Sam was taken back to her parents. Both of the teenagers were greeted warmly by their parents who had been worried sick for them since Freakshow had taken them captive.

Danny had returned only the day before, but by now, it was all over the news. There had also been some rumors about a second Danny Phantom on the streets of Amity Park. Both the ghost-hybrids got a laugh out of this in hearing all of the different theories people were coming up with.

They were able to clear up the rumors after a ghost-attack from Undergrowth: a giant, plant ghost made completely of thick vines, having powerful arms and the head of an eagle with spiky armor and a green cape. He had no feet, but roots that helped him to spring from the ground and invade a large part of the town with his infestation of dangerous and ghostly plants.

Both the Phantoms had incredibly close calls in trying to uproot the giant weed of a ghost who was simply able to grow back every time they cut off any part of him. "Okay, I'm starting to get fed up with this thorn in my side." Danny said to his younger cousin. That's when they both got an idea.

Using Danielle's new super-speed power, that she had come to call her Plazma Rocket, she started zooming in a circle around Undergrowth, picking up a wind that evolved into a tornado that trapped him. Then Danny shot his Phantom Phreeze into the hurricane, making a snowstorm that froze the giant weed stiff. Danielle continued to increase the velocity of the tornado as Danny then sent jagged ice shards interlaced with his plasma ray into the sub-zero twister, which cut Undergrowth down to nothing more than a sprout. Before he could regenerate, he was sucked into the Fenton Thermos.

As soon as the battle had ended, Danielle was so exhausted from using so much power at once. Danny had to catch her as she fell at least fifty feet from the air. The Plasma Rocket was still new to her and she still needed to learn to regulate her power the way Danny did with his Ghostly Wail.

Lance Thunder, a news reporter that Danny now knew on a first name basis, had confronted Danielle by the time she was able to stand on her own again. Luckily, she hadn't lost too much energy and didn't change back to her human form like she had last night. Danny came to her rescue when she was being hesitant from the unexpected attention. "Sorry, Lance." Danny said with a laugh and putting a supporting arm around his clone partner. "My cousin here is still a bit shy when it comes to publicity."

"Ah." Lance nodded in understanding before turning back to the girl ghost. "And yet a real powerhouse when it comes to ghost-fighting." He said, sounding impressed with Danielle's display of power despite her timidity. Danielle couldn't stop herself from blushing at the comment and gave a side-look to Danny who winked reassuringly at her.

It was Lance Thunder who later interviewed them both for the full story of Danny's mysterious disappearance and his most gratifying return.

Later that day, Danny was able to give the tour of the Fenton's new place of residence that he had promised to Danielle. To her surprised disbelief, she learned that this underground house was actually located only a hundred feet below the floor of the old Fenton Works lab. "And the Guys in White don't even suspect?" Danielle asked when she learned this little fact.

"Nope." Danny responded looking proud. "We saw on cameras that they broke into the old Fenton Works and searched the lab, but there's no entrance there, so they didn't even think that we were right under their noses."

"Or mine." Danielle said in remembering how she had searched the lab herself for any clues as to where Danny had gone when he had disappeared from Amity Park. "But then, where does that teleporter thing lead to?" She asked, indicating the clear, circular chamber that was in the place of the front door.

"Anywhere we want." When Danielle asked him to clarify, he took her inside the transparent chamber that was big enough for the whole family to fit in at once if needed. Once they were both inside, a digital map of Amity Park came out in front of them. Then six screens projected out of different places of the map, showing camera views of various locations: Some of which, the clone hybrid recognized.

"Pick one and just touch it." Danny encouraged. "Preferably one that doesn't have many people around." Danielle looked at the screens and saw that the one with the park was full of picnickers, now that it was safe of ghost attacks there. City Hall was also busy with people who wanted to see Mayor Foley in person, since his return from his adventure with the Fentons and Sam. One of the screens also showed a view of the football field of Casper High School, and the other screens were places of the city that Danielle couldn't quite identify.

She touched a screen that had a camera-view of an empty alleyway. There were computerized beeping noises of recognition and just as Danielle blinked, she suddenly found herself in the place of the indicated screen she just touched. "Whoa." Danielle said, looking around frantically, completely taken aback from the sudden change in surroundings.

"Welcome to the alley that's just behind Tucker's house." Danny said, holding his hands out as if in presentation.

The baffled clone looked down at her feet. There was no reception pad. But that's where Danny explained that there indeed was one that the two were standing on. Danny's parents were able to copy their son's ability to turn both invisible and intangible and make it so no one could see or even feel the tube-like chambers that transported them to the underground house. The emergency Op Center was now stored beneath the floor of the new lab. During emergencies where they would have to use the Fenton Blimp or the Jet, it had it's own teleportation feature that transported it to the roof of the old Fenton Works.

If too many spectators occupied any of the locations they had placed the invisible transportation chambers in, they could always use a different one that was less crowded around. The Fentons and Sam and Tucker were the only ones who knew the exact locations of these pads. Even if other people did know, they still couldn't work them because it included a voice recognition key that only the Fentons had.

"And soon you'll get one too." Danny finished off after demonstrating the voice key and transporting both himself and Danielle back down to the house.

Danielle looked at him confused after they both stepped out of the tube-like chamber. Danny ran his fingers through his dark hair as if edgy about clarifying his statement. "Um. My parents and I have been talking and…since you didn't seem to have anywhere else to go that you had planned, we were thinking that you might...be willing to…well…"

"You mean…" Danielle interrupted when Danny was stuttering. "Live _here_? With _you_?" She just couldn't hide the surprise in her voice at what she was hearing.

"If it's what you want, Danielle." Said Mrs. Fenton, who had just come in from the kitchen, followed by her husband and daughter. "It's just a suggestion, really. But we thought you didn't deserve anything less after proving yourself several times over."

Danielle just didn't know how to respond to this. She didn't think that when Danny was giving her the tour of the house, he would be having her getting familiar with her own new place of residence. This was the last thing she expected to be coming up. Vlad could and would never have given anything of the sort, despite being her creator. And here his archenemy's family was, offering her the thing that she thought she would never have again, if she ever really had it at all. A home. A family:

Which, to Danny's delight, she gladly accepted.

000000

Jack and Madeline Fenton walked through the upstairs hall of the underground house on Sunday night, checking in all the bedrooms of the children and wishing them goodnight. Despite the trouble they had all gone through during the multiple weeks with Freakshow, they had a decent weekend. Things were back to normal, aside from having a new resident of their house, which they didn't mind at all.

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton reached Danielle's room that they had picked out for her and opened the door as quietly as they could to peak inside. She was already sound asleep on the bed from spending a full day with Danny and Jazz. Though the fifteen-year-old girl still seemed to feel a bit awkward and out of place in her new surroundings, the Fentons were confident that once she adapted, things would be fine.

Mrs. Fenton quietly walked in the bedroom to Danielle's bedside. She smiled adoringly down at the young girl and gently stroked her hair for a second before pulling the blanket over her shoulders, tucking her in. Then Danny's mother tiptoed back out into the hall. Before closing the door, however, she and her husband took one last peak inside the bedroom.

"You know, for an evil experiment, she's a rather pretty little thing. Isn't she?" Maddie commented to her husband, almost in a whisper as to not wake the girl. Jack nodded in agreement before Maddie closed the door with a gently snap. "It's still hard to believe Vlad Plasmius would be capable of creating such a wonderful girl that's so dedicated to helping our own son out. Not to mention all the rest of us."

"Yeah. The only good thing Vladie seemed to be able to bring to our family." Jack remarked, though more to himself.

Maddie looked back at her husband who seemed to have a gloomy expression on his face now, and knew what he was thinking.

Vlad had been an old friend of Jack's in college and believed him to be a good man until he realized that he had been the evil, Wisconsin ghost that had tried to do away with him and his son, the ghost boy who constantly stood in his way. Even though no one had seen or heard anything of Vlad in two years, Jack still felt disappointed sometimes and even a bit hurt in knowing that his best friend had betrayed him.

As his mind was pondering these thoughts, Maddie put a comforting hand on his shoulder and smiled at him in understanding before planting a kiss on his cheek. This cheered Jack up a bit and he smiled back down at his wife. Then they both proceeded down the hall to the master bedroom, where they would be sleeping more peacefully than they had all in weeks.

Thanks to their newly adopted niece.

_**Okay. So what do you think? I was thinking of ending it here where Danielle becomes a Fenton, but there was this one part with the Guys in White that I was really thinking of doing and that I already have been planning. **_

_**I know this chapter's not as action-packed as the last one was, but now Danielle has a home and family of her own. However, the story isn't over yet, as I've mentioned before. The next chapter will be Danielle's first day of school with Danny and how she's getting used to her new lifestyle. And she's going to have a few encounters with some bullies Danny use to have to deal with all the time. **_


	18. Old and New Rivalries

_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own the show Danny Phantom, nor any of its characters. But I am the designer of the older version of Danielle that inspired this whole thing.**_

_**In this chapter, Danielle has a few encounters with Dash. I know in the show he seems older than Danny in comparing their heights and stuff and I've read some stories that say that he should have graduated by the time this story takes place. But if you look at the character biographies on the Nickelodeon website, they're actually in the same grade. Anyway. On with the story. Let's see how Danielle's adjusting to her new life with the Fentons.**_

**Chapter 18: Old and New Rivalries **

Monday morning came and Danielle woke up long before her set alarm clock even rang. It was the morning of her first day of enrollment at Casper High School with Danny. She had been both nervous as well as excited about this event and she just didn't know what to expect. She supposed she would find out soon, though.

Danielle was just too anxious to get back to sleep before another hour and a half had gone by, when her alarm clock would actually go off. She got to the school before any of the other Fentons were even up. She felt that it would be a good idea to get familiar with where her classes were so she didn't get lost and possibly be late for one of them when school actually came to be in session.

The newly adopted Fenton had been to this school once before when spying on Danny for Vlad, but during the three years of her existence, she had never actually had the kind of education her cousins were getting. While she had been going around traveling, she had frequently visited libraries in her human form to do her own research. Not only on ghost studies, but on some school subjects that she may have been interested in. Her favorite location to visit was the Library of Congress itself in Washington DC. There, she had read up on enough to be in the proper grade for her age. Some classes she was actually able to advance far enough to be at Danny's level of education. In that regard, they would even have some of the same classes together.

This thought always excited her, but the clone of the ghost-hero was still unsure of how this arrangement with her living with the Fentons would work out. So far, a weekend with them had proven to be quite enjoyable, though she still felt a bit awkward to call their house her own.

As the female Phantom phased through the doors of the school (since they were still locked, as it was still quite early), she started to feel nervous about how many new people she would probably meet today. They would eventually find out that she was the new Phantom that had been helping Danny with the several ghost attacks since his return and she wasn't exactly looking forward to that. It wouldn't be as easy for her to hide the fact that she was half ghost either, since she looked so much like Danny in her ghost mode and he was already revealed. In fact, people would probably just start guessing once they found out that she was Danny's cousin.

But maybe she was just worrying too much. After all, the explanations with Danny's family went much better than she thought. Perhaps these new introductions wouldn't go so bad either. Like Danny had said to her back in the cabin at Camp Skull and Crossbones, no one would even have to know that she was a clone.

Eventually, As Danielle started to feel familiar with the layout of the school, more students started to gradually arrive in the halls and she realized that it would soon be time for her first class. She got to her locker, which she had organized earlier, and got the right books, keeping an eye out for Danny or even Sam or Tucker. Unfortunately, she didn't see them at all before her first class started.

The new Fenton, of course, had to introduce herself in her first class, being the new student, but she just gave her first name. Thankfully, no one asked for her last, which they would have used to make the connection that she had ghost powers. The first class went by fine, but she still felt she would be better off if she at least saw one familiar face.

As she walked through the halls after the bell rang, she _did_ see a face she recognized. However, not exactly one she was looking forward to seeing: A big and muscular, blond boy with a red and white letter-jacket, blue jeans and white tennis shoes was picking on a nerdy looking redhead kid with glasses.

Dash Baxter. (As she had remembered Danny say his name was.) She recognized the blond jock from the first time she was at the school. She knew Danny wasn't exactly fond of him at the time and from what she was seeing, she was starting to understand why.

A foreign looking boy who was similarly dressed as Dash was helping him roughen up the redhead and threatened to stuff the geek into his locker unless he handed over his lunch money.

Danielle stopped in the hall and watched a distance away as the poor, frightened kid fumbled in his pockets and extracted his whole wallet for them. As soon as it was in Dash's hands, however, the other jock kid pushed him into the locker anyway. The two bullies started laughing as if they had just done something funny. When they started walking away, looking quite snobbish and leaving the poor redhead stuck in the locker, Danielle stood defiantly in their path, glaring at them in disgust.

The letter-jacketed boys stopped in seeing the young girl in the hall in front of them. After looking confused for a millisecond, Dash raised his eyebrows in a flirting way at Danielle. His friend looked at her in the same manner. "Well." The blond one began, using his hand to smooth back his hair. "The name's Baxter. Dash Baxter." He said.

The foreign student then cleared his throat loudly.

"Oh, yeah. And this is Kwan." Dash said in remembrance.

Kwan rolled his eyes, apparently in annoyance that Dash didn't give him a cool introduction like he had done with himself.

The blond jock then bent down to Danielle's face level as if examining her better. "I don't think I've seen a pretty face like _yours_ around here before."

Danielle narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah. Well, I've seen _you_ before, and I know you're a jerk." She responded bitterly. "Now get out of my face and let that kid out of the locker. _And_ give him back his money."

"Ooh. Feisty." Kwan commented and Dash straightened up again before he added, "But…Nah." It was as if her demand was a mere suggestion. "Dash and I can think of loads of stuff we could do with this." He indicated the stolen wallet as Dash pocketed it in his jacket. They both winked at Danielle as they walked right by her.

As they passed, the female hybrid slyly turned her hand intangible and phased the wallet right from Dash's person. The two jocks didn't suspect a thing as they disappeared into a nearby classroom.

Danielle went over to the locker she saw the nerd get shoved in and glanced around, making sure no one was looking. Then, she turned her hand intangible again, as well as invisible, and secretly reached inside the metal door, unlocking it from the inside. The locker swung open and the boy crammed inside it suddenly tumbled out.

"Here you go." Danielle said to him as she helped him up and handed back his wallet. "Just make sure they don't see that you have it back." Then she walked away, leaving the boy staring after her in thanks but still puzzled.

Danielle headed to her own locker to get the necessary materials for her next class. As soon as she closed the door to it, she jumped in seeing two girls who had approached her from behind the then open locker door. One had long, wavy black hair, pulled back with pink barrettes that matched the color of her shirt that exposed her midriff. She also wore light blue capris and white shoes. The other girl was a blond with orange barrettes that resembled small flowers in her hair and she wore a white shirt with orange lining the edges of it. She wore red capris with it and white shoes that were similar to the first girl's.

"Why hello." The black-haired girl said to Danielle with a smile. She spoke with just a hint of a Hispanic accent in her voice. "You must be new here."

"Is it that obvious?" Danielle said, a bit shyly.

The blond girl answered this question. "Well you're definitely someone _I've_ never seen before."

"I'm Paullina." The girl with the pink shirt said. "This is my friend, Starr." She indicated the blond girl next to her, who raised her hand a bit in response.

"Danielle." The young hybrid simply said in introduction and smiled back as pleasantly as possible.

"Nice to meet you, Danielle." Paullina responded.

This girl seemed nice enough, but Danielle was a bit confused. She had seen these same girls just before school started and they never bothered to approach her before. Why now?

"Hey, do you need help finding your next class or anything?" Paullina continued.

"Nah. I'm sure I can manage." Danielle shook her head politely. "Even if I _do_ have any trouble, my cousin goes to this school. I'm sure he'll be able to help me out."

"Well, okay then." Starr said with a shrug. "But if you ever do need to get somewhere and your cousin's not around, don't hesitate to give us a holler."

Danielle grinned in appreciation and started down the hall to her next class. The two girls walked on either side of her and Paullina started speaking again. "You know Danielle, that thing where you picked Dash's pocket to get that kid's wallet back was pretty impressive. He didn't even seem to know that you did it."

Danielle stopped in mid-step at hearing this. The two girls walked on a few more steps before turning back around to look at her, wondering why she had halted so suddenly.

"You saw that?" The ghost girl asked, nervously.

"Oh, yeah." Starr nodded. "Not sure how you did it, but it was totally stellar. So was the way you got that geek kid out of his locker."

Danielle felt slightly relieved that they didn't seem to notice how she had used her ghost powers to do those things, but she was starting to get a bad feeling about these two girls, despite their friendly approach. Why would they be interested in her slight-of-hand skills and the ability to open a locker that was not her own?

"In fact, on that regard, we were wondering if you could do us a favor." Paullina said.

When Danielle asked her what it was, she leaned in closer to whisper and pointed further down the hall.

"See that girl over there? The Goth with the boots and grotesque makeup?"

Danielle looked where Paullina was indicating and realized that she was pointing at Sam who had arrived at her locker a distance away. "What about her?" The clone asked, as her uncertainties grew stronger about the two girls.

"Well, as you can plainly see, she has the look of someone dark and mysterious: Like someone up to mischief." Paullina said in a low voice. "She's pocketed some of her own stolen money from me and Starr."

With this, Danielle's suspicions were confirmed. She may not know Sam very well, but since she was a life-long friend of Danny's, she knew that there was no way the Goth would do something like that. Danny would never have befriended her otherwise.

"_I_ don't see anything wrong with the way she looks." Danielle casually replied with a shrug, not showing that she in fact knew Sam.

"Are you kidding?" The black-haired girl said, sounding rather offended by the very suggestion. "Just _look_ at her. She's a disgrace to anything fashionable with her simple want to stand out like a sore thumb. And she's also guilty of theft from innocent fellow students, like me."

Paullina indicated herself with such puffery that Danielle cocked an eyebrow at the way she clearly thought herself to be superior to anyone else.

"We just wanted to teach her a lesson." Paullina continued. "If you could snag some of her cash for us, we can use it to get her some proper attire that she can use in the stead of that junk she always wears."

Danielle glanced back at Sam who seemed to be out of earshot and then glanced between Paullina and Starr. "If you want to be so nice, why don't you just use your _own_ money?" Danielle asked the preppy girl. "Stealing hers will only make you just as bad as those two bullies I had to deal with back there." She jerked her head in the direction down the hall where she had met Dash and Kwon earlier.

Paullina seemed to be getting impatient and folded her arms. "You just stole from the popular boy." She said with an excuse.

"To return the thing he stole to the right person." Danielle argued.

"Well, that girl stole from _us_." Paullina interjected, nodding towards Sam.

Danielle was the only one who noticed that the Goth was now looking in their direction, when she asked Paullina, putting one hand on her hip with a smirk, "How do you know?"

When Paullina didn't answer, Starr cut in with a sweeter-sounding tone. "We could get you some barrettes too." She suggested, trying to pull Danielle's long bangs out of her face with her fingers. "A girl who dresses as nice as you shouldn't have to hide behind her own hair."

Danielle just scoffed and jerked her head away from Starr's hand before all three girls heard a voice behind them.

"Danielle?" It said.

They all turned around to see Danny Fenton had come up behind them.

As soon as Paullina saw the famed ghost-hero, she started to stare at him dreamily. Then her expression changed when she realized that the boy had just said Danielle's name.

"Danny! Hi!" Danielle waved to him excitedly and hurried over to him.

Starr and Paullina stared after her, obviously in bewilderment at how the two greeted each other like long lost friends.

"What's up, cuz?" Danny asked with a laugh as he gave Danielle a side-squeeze. "I didn't see you all morning. I thought you might have just taken off from town again without even saying goodbye."

"No, I just wanted to get familiar with the school before classes started." The hybrid clone responded. "Didn't you see my note?"

Danny rubbed his head in thought for a second before answering. "I thought I saw _something_ on the table, but I didn't get to read it before I left."

"Wait a minute." Paullina interrupted.

Both ghost-powered kids turned, seeing that both Paullina and Starr looked quite shocked. Paullina especially looked twice as stunned as her blond friend and was pointing between the two cousins with her mouth hanging slightly open.

"You mean…_Danny's_ your cousin?" She asked Danielle in astonishment when the connection seemed to finally click in seeing the resemblance before her. "The famous ghost-boy is your cousin?"

Danielle nodded in confirmation. "Mm-hmm. And that Goth girl you so happen to hate so much…"

"…Is his girlfriend." A voice finished.

The two popular girls spun around to find that Sam Manson had snuck up behind them the way Danny had. The Goth walked between the girls to move by Danny's side.

Paullina gritted her teeth at Sam with a look of absolute loathing as she saw the two put their arms around each other's waists.

Danielle couldn't stop smiling at Paullina's reaction before she spoke. "Yeah. So about that offer, I'm afraid I'm going to have to respectfully decline." She told the two snobs. "Besides. I like my hair this way." She tossed her dark, ponytailed hair back as she finished her statement.

Now Paullina gave the new Casper High student a bit of a glare before turning to the blond. "Perfect." She said, sounding very frustrated indeed. "A girl that actually has style ends up being a friend of the loser Goth."

Ignoring the fact that both Sam and Danielle were right in front of them, listening to every word, Paullina stomped off in the opposite direction. Starr followed in step behind her, taking one last disappointed look at Danielle as she went.

"What was _that_ all about?" Danny asked with a bit of a laugh and turning to his female clone.

After Danielle gave him and Sam a quick story of how the two preppy girls had seen her encounter with Dash and asked if she could steal from Sam for them, Danny just shook his head with a scoff and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Figures." They both remarked in unison.

All three then started walking down the hall together (Danny and Sam having their hands linked) as the eighteen-year-old ghost-hero explained to Danielle how he had once had a crush on Paullina even though she and Sam had been enemies since they first made eye-contact. Paullina had always been disrespectful to the less popular kids in the school: Particularly Danny Fenton, and his two closest friends. Ironically, the head cheerleader just so happened to have a crush on Danny _Phantom_. After Danny had revealed himself to be the ghost-hero, Paullina suddenly took an even stronger fancy to him as either a ghost or a human. However, with that came an even stronger loathing for Sam, since she and Danny had by now taken their already powerful friendship to another level.

"Great." Danielle said with a bit of a sigh after they had finished. "My first day of school and I think _I've_ now made her list."

Danny scoffed at this. "Oh, trust me. Anyone who disagrees with Paullina is on her list."

"But I bet I'm near the top of it, now that she knows I'm on your side." Danielle replied.

"Hey don't be taking _all_ the credit. She was _my_ enemy first." Sam said, playfully punching Danielle's arm. "I think she'll still have me as the number one. Besides. It's not like she'll be able to do anything about it, seeing as you have ghost-powers and she doesn't."

This cheered up Danielle a bit, but she felt that Paullina would only be the first of other girls who might be jealous of Sam. Danny's enemies were slowly becoming her own over the past few days and the same would probably happen with Sam's competitors.

Aside from the run-ins with Danny's old rivalries, Danielle did have a pleasant first day of school. She had her math class with Danny who took the pleasure of introducing her to Mr. Felucca, the stout little teacher with gray and balding hair and glasses who was quite friendly. He introduced her to the rest of the class before he started the lesson and let her sit next to her older cousin.

English with Mr. Lancer, the tall and yet, out of shape teacher in addition to vice-principle, with absolutely no hair except for on his chin, was a bit of a different story. This educator was Danny's least favorite teacher when he was just starting high school. He was always the hardest to deal with when it came to being late for class because of some ghost dilemma that the ghost-boy could never really talk about before the Disasteroid. After Danny's secret was out, explaining why he had been absent more than once, Mr. Lancer became a bit more tolerant. However, he still preferred the rules to be followed. The English teacher sometimes had Danny stay after school to make up for the time he missed on the days he had been late because of ghost-fighting duties. The thing was, sometimes the makeup time had to be missed as well because of another ghost attack Danny had to tend to.

Danielle was a bit nervous around Mr. Lancer when she and Danny approached him, but he greeted her in the same pleasant fashion as Mr. Felucca, being impressed that her skills in his taught subject had progressed two full years beyond the normal educational level of her age. In addition, there were no ghost attacks during school hours for the next week, making things a bit easier for the both of the cousins. The message of Danny's return seemed to have had a much better effect than they had hoped.

Miss Tetslaff was another tough teacher that the two cousins had together for gym class. This army martial of an instructor just took one glance at Danielle when she first saw her and scoffed at her small and skinny figure, thinking she probably wouldn't even make it through the first twenty minutes of the class. Before the first class was up, though, Danielle was able to prove quite capable. Miss Tetslaff worked her students hard, but both Danny and Danielle had had plenty of practice in aerobic exercises with the ghost fights they had done in the last three years. Both felt it was their duty to stay strong and prepared for anything whether they were ghost or human, especially after Danny had gotten his reputation as the famed ghost-hero. Danielle's abilities of a natural gymnast earned her the respect of even this huge and brawny woman that most students feared.

Out of respect for Danielle's want to keep a low profile for the time being, Danny, as well as the teachers, were discreet enough to not be so open in revealing the fact that Danielle was the same ghost-girl who was found fighting alongside Danny Phantom lately. Though, Danielle had no doubt that others were starting to suspect already. People were always coming by to talk to Danny, being the hero celebrity that he was. Sam was also getting a bit of attention since her return from being suddenly snatched from the school by a ghost who was working for an escaped fugitive. Tucker also got his share in attention in being taken by the same ghost from City Hall, in addition to the fact that he was the mayor of Amity Park. (Danny sometimes wondered how Tucker was able to even come to school anymore with his duties as the elected leader of the city.)

Since Danielle was almost always in the company of these three, people started to give curious glances at her as well. Before the first week of school was up, she had met several people that Danny was acquainted with, both on good and bad terms.

There was one time where a gang of senior boys, who were just passing by, decided to have a bit of "fun" with the new girl. While she was alone out in the schoolyard, they started literally pushing her around. The snatched her backpack away from her, curious as to what kinds of things she kept in it besides books.

Danny had seen this happening from nearby and was starting over to assist Danielle when she was trying to reclaim her book bag from the leader of the punks, who had raised it above his head, out of her reach.

In pure frustration, Danielle tried to punch him, but he stopped her fist in his palm before it hit its intended target.

"You hit like a girl." He mocked as she struggled for the release of her hand.

This was when she really got fed up and she glared at him with glowing green eyes and charged a plasma ray in her caught fist. The release of green energy suddenly blew him back against the brick wall of the school and made him drop her bag.

"Why, thank you." Danielle said in her own mocking way. The other gang members stared at her, uncertain of what had just happened as she took back her school bag.

"Ha ha! A lesson for losers like you guys." Said Danny, as he arrived at the scene he just saw his clone handle quite nicely on her own. "Don't mess with my little cousin. You'll pay for it."

The boys looked fearfully between the two Fenton cousins before the leader scrambled to his feet and they all backed away slowly at first before suddenly taking off.

Though Danielle didn't have any more problems with those boys, they seemed to have spread rumors about her being the new ghost-powered girl. By the second week, Lance Thunder's article about Danny's temporary absence from the town and his return with a female look-alike had also been published in the newspaper. Theories increased in numbers that the new Phantom was in fact going to Casper High. Danielle couldn't help but notice more and more people giving her inquisitive looks as she walked through the halls of the school, accompanied by Danny or not. Though this wasn't unexpected, Danielle was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable with the people who were constantly glancing in her direction.

Jazz had come by one day to check how the newly adopted Fenton was doing when one of the classes at her university was canceled for the day. The college girl was able to hear out her cousin's concerns and gave her reassurance that Danny had a hard time adjusting to the people who were always looking at him too. In fact, after two years of it, she still didn't think he was quite used to it yet. Danielle found Jazz quite easy to talk with as the days went on and felt grateful that she could have the support she used to always give Danny. Sometimes she wondered if it was just because Danny had requested it of Jazz to make sure she felt more welcome as a new member of the Fenton family.

On Thursday of Danielle's second week, during lunchtime, the inevitable came when several students suddenly came screaming from the hall and bursting through the doors of the cafeteria. Both Phantoms' ghost-senses went off as some of the kids came rushing to the table that Danny and his friends were sitting at with the ghost-clone.

"Danny! In the hall! More ghosts coming this way!" one of the kids shouted, panic-stricken.

Everyone within earshot started screaming in fright and running in all directions to take cover.

"If this school is always getting haunted, why hasn't anyone put in an alarm or something?" Danielle asked, standing up from her seat as well.

"Everyone screaming practically _is_ the alarm." Danny stated. He started running towards the double-doors to the hall, but stopped, realizing that Danielle had not moved. "Aren't you coming?" He asked her.

Danielle bit her lower lip in hesitation and looked around nervously at the many students who were now watching and waiting for Danny to jump into action.

Sam and Tucker looked around at everyone too, knowing what Danny's cousin was thinking. "They're going to find out sooner or later." Tucker said to Danielle with a shrug. "You may as well get it over with."

When Sam nodded in agreement, Danielle let out a heavy sigh but gave Danny a readying look. Then she ran with him to head to the scene of the commotion.

Some of the students started staring after her, confused as to why the new sophomore girl was heading with the ghost-hero to a battle as if she was going to join in.

"Going Ghost!" came Danny's battle cry before he slid to a halt on the tile floor in the hall.

"So am I." Danielle said in the same tone as Danny as she slid to a stop the same way he did. Then, at the same time, the familiar white ring of light appeared around their waists and transformed them into their Phantom forms.

As soon as it was complete, every student within range had their mouths hanging open and their eyes wide in speechless surprise (Or telling off their neighbors that their theories about the new girl had been correct).

Both Phantoms took off through the halls until they came across more students who were running to get away from the ghosts that were coming towards them. "Everybody duck!" Danny called out.

The students dove to the floor, covering their heads as the Phantom cousins fired green plasma rays above them, shooting back the ghosts that were chasing them.

Despite the abnormally large size of the green specters, the two Phantoms were able to handle them quite well with a few other united tactics. Danny gave Danielle the honor of finishing it. She used her ecto-boost to speed passed the ghosts who tried to flee when seeing that they were overpowered. Once she was in front of them, she shot one of them with a plasma ray from her fist, knocking it towards Danny who had a Fenton Thermos out and then she did a crescent-kick that sent of a wave of green energy at the second, blowing it back and, like its counterpart, got sucked into the Thermos.

Danny screwed the lid on and everyone in the hall cheered at the Phantoms' success. Both changed back to their human appearances and by the time they had made their way back to the cafeteria, practically the whole school had crowded around them, mostly looking at Danielle in wondering awe. At this time, Danny introduced Danielle properly as the second _Danny Phantom_ mentioned in Lance Thunder's article and putting in the fact that his return was possible because of her.

"Sweet!" Dash Baxter said from nearby after Danny had finished the introduction of his little cousin.

Danielle wanted to hide behind Danny as the students started closing in on them even more, asking several questions at once, like where she had come from, how long she was staying, how long she had her powers, and why Danny had never mentioned her before. Things only settled down when Principle Ishyama and some of the teachers, including Mr. Lancer, told the students to clear off and get back to their lunch break, finally giving the two Phantoms some space. It still didn't stop a few students from at least shaking Danielle's hand in welcoming her as the new student of Casper High after the crowd had died down.

Dash later approached the table the two hybrid cousins were sitting at with Tucker and Sam. "I was wondering what happened to that wallet until today." He said, to Danielle. "Pity I don't have the spare cash anymore to take you out on a date." He made himself sound as solemn and disappointed as possible as he said this. Then he smoothed his hair back and looked at her dreamily.

Danielle cocked an eyebrow, getting a bit frustrated by this action. "Um. Danny? Is this guy hitting on me?" She asked, turning to her fellow hybrid, even though she already knew the answer.

Danny looked up at Dash in sarcastic consideration and nodded his head. "Yeah, I think he is, Danielle."

The clone girl then (Sam noticed) eyed the football star evilly and fired a thin ecto-ray from her finger at his face.

"Yow!" Dash cried out, as the small green blast hit him right on the nose, making him take a step backwards from the non-harmful but still unexpected sting.

Danielle fired another blast from her eyes and made his just smoothed out hair suddenly stand up in all directions, making it a total disaster.

Everyone in the cafeteria suddenly burst into laughter at the sight, including Tucker, who actually fell out of his seat and started rolling on the floor in doing so.

Once Dash realized what was so funny, he hurriedly tried to fix his hair and looked at Danny as if asking for help.

"Don't look at _me_, Dash." Danny said, raising his hand defensively and shrugging. "Just because my sister's now out of your reach doesn't mean you can start flirting with my cousin. Especially if she can give you a makeover like _that_."

Danielle now started giggling at this comment and everyone continued to laugh as Dash hurried out of the cafeteria with his hands covering his messed up hair.

The only one who wasn't amused from this sight of the tough, muscular, kid having his own fun getting backfired on him for once, was Sam. She was looking at Danielle uncertainly at what she had just done.

Dash may have always been a jerk, especially to Danny, but that was before he had saved the world. The popular and normally good-looking football player had laid off in teasing Danny and his friends when he learned that the runt had actually been helping him as well as the rest of the school, despite what he had done to him. So had just about everyone else who had ever picked on Danny or any of his friends. (Though Dash still tried to find opportunities to beat other kids down once in a while.)

This may have been a bit hypocritical of Sam to think, considering her relationship with Paullina, but though Dash may have been getting on Danielle's nerves and she no longer had to worry about keeping her identity a secret, was it really necessary to humiliate even the old school bully like that?

_**This took quite a bit of work to arrange and I still feel It's a bit scrambled up. It's really only to help lead up to a part I've been planning out already. But with Danielle's encounters with Paullina and Dash, I hope you guys felt it was worthwhile. If there's anything you feel can be written a bit better, please let me know.**_


	19. Creatures of the Night

_**This is really another filler chapter but it actually has a bit more significance to it. You'll understand why when you read it. This was one of the more difficult chapters to write for me. I'm not sure how it will work out for you guys. But I thought it was the best way to help set the plot up for a major event that I've been planning out. Maybe you'll be able to predict a few things by the end of it.**_

**Chapter 19: Creatures of the Night**

Time passed for the Fenton Family and everything seemed the same as before the time Freakshow had broken out of jail. Danny's bandages had long been removed and Danielle was happy to see that her choice of a healing ointment worked so well, that he didn't even have resulting scars from the burns. Not even on any of the burns that were additionally scraped from the battle against Walker.

Danielle was also starting to get used to her new lifestyle. It felt a bit strange to have been staying in one place for so long after her years of traveling all the time. But Danny and his family did their best to make it one of her best experiences.

More than once, they took her on weekend, family camping trips that were quite enjoyable, despite Jack's tendency to blow things up whenever he tried to use a barbecue grill.

There was an obstacle course the Fenton's had installed in the new lab that both Phantoms would practice on, making sure that they were always prepared for anything. Sometimes, they would even have matches against each other that almost always ended in a tie. Except when they had flying races. Since Danielle learned her Plasma-Rocket power, she always won. (Danny always playfully considered that cheating)

The Fenton's had the opportunity to test exactly how fast she could go with this power. Danny had been able to start from 112 Miles per hour and climb up to 120 in all his flying practice, but Danielle, with her plasma-rocket, they discovered that she could reach a velocity that she could use to launch herself into space. They had used it once too. Axion Labs had sent up a new satellite into Earth's orbit and Danielle was sent up to make sure everything was going well with its primary functions before it became fully operational. Danny still had visions of being an astronaut someday and was happy to be able to go into space with her and help with the satellite. Even though his ghost fighting duties were starting to drain his hopes of becoming an actual certified astronaut, at least he had the opportunity to do something like this once in a while with him being half ghost and able to withstand the conditions of space better than any normal human.

Sometimes, the Phantom, in addition to local ghost attacks, would have special calls of assistance in other places of the world. Danielle was still learning to regulate the constant emission of energy her speed power emitted, though, so she only used it to travel long distances when she knew she wouldn't need her strength to fight a ghost by the time she got to her destination. So in these out of town cases, they got to use the Fenton Jet to get to these places fast.

When Danielle didn't have to deal with any evil ghosts, Jazz would sometimes take shopping and on other activities where they had some family bonding time of their own. The two girls may have been four years apart in their ages, but Danielle found it easier to be friends with Danny's sister than anyone in the school. The young clone was always so shy when people approached her at school. Accept for Valerie, but she had always known her after she had assisted in helping Danny to save her from a liquefying death.

And there was of course Dash who would not let up coming over to talk to her whenever he had the chance, despite her frequent demands to leave her alone from both herself and her look-alike cousin. Though Dash was no longer picking on Danny, Danielle was not going to put up with the showoff after seeing what he does to other people on her first day of school. She didn't put him on the spot as the subject of humiliation like she had in the cafeteria, but her ghost-powers gave her the ability to end a conversation with Dash quite fast and leave him in at least a small pool of embarrassment. Like turning invisible and just walking away when she saw him trying to come over to her.

Aside from having to deal with Dash's repeated attempts to approach the girl and her lack of social skills with anyone else besides Danny, Jazz and Valerie, school wasn't all that bad for Danielle. She did well enough in her classes to continue to be on the teacher's good sides. Even Mr. Lancer's. She really looked forward to the classes she and her cousin shared. Both Danny and Danielle sometimes had some ghost trouble during school that resulted in after school makeup time with the vice principle, but now that Danielle was there, they would both take turns doing their detention with their English teacher while the other could be available for any ghost emergency.

But although things were going well for the clone of Danny Phantom, she still had only just gotten used to calling Danny's parents Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack. She also couldn't help but feel slightly out of place whenever she called the Fentons' home her own. She could never put her finger why she still felt this way after several months of living under the same roof with the boy she was cloned from. At first she just thought that maybe it was just her worrying too much again, and kept dismissing it. She never brought it to Danny's attention because she figured that he would just say that it was just her unfamiliarity with her new life. But it just kept on reoccurring and it was starting to bother her.

Sooner than anyone thought, the end of the school year was approaching and finals were coming up. The teachers were pushing their students to work harder than they had all year. Danny always hated this time of the year but considering this was Danielle's first year of schooling, she didn't really seem to mind it as much. Everyone else was usually just dozing off during class.

One day in particular in Mr. Lancer's class, several people's heads started dropping onto the surface of their desks, suddenly falling asleep. Tucker was one of these and Danny almost did the same. As you can imagine, Mr. Lancer wasn't very happy with the sudden lack of attention. Danny had to admit that the he more than once had fallen asleep in class himself during certain lectures, but with more people suddenly dropping on their work, it was getting a bit strange. He was usually one of the first ones to do it and more than half the class had fallen sound asleep by the time the bell rang. And they didn't even wake up when that happened.

Danny was just walking in the halls during the break with Sam and Tucker when he passed someone who was slumped on the floor next to the lockers, snoring. This was not a sight Danny nor any of his friends had ever seen before.

"Probably just came from Mr. Lancer's class." Danny suggested. As the three of them passed the principle's office, Tucker just casually peaked through the door window. But then suddenly stopped, stepped backward and took a closer look through the window with a very confused look on his face.

"Hey, Danny. Look at this." He said, using his hand to beckon to his half-ghost friend.

After a confused look at Sam, who could only shrug in response, Danny hurried to the window to see what Tucker was so surprised about. Danny's eyes popped when he saw. Principle Ishyama was sleeping with her head propped on the top of her desk on top of a document she must have been writing before dozing off.

"Okay. That's really weird." Sam said, when she looked over Danny's shoulder at the bizarre scene that baffled the two boys. Principle Ishyama was almost as strict as Mr. Lancer was. She was just in a much more cheerful nature. Falling asleep during school hours was the last thing she would do.

"Maybe she just had a long night." Tucker said aloud. But Danny was starting to think that there was something amiss.

"Danny!" The teenage ghost-hero turned in hearing his little cousin's urgent voice and saw her running towards him. When she had come up to him and his two friends, she asked, while panting to catch her breath, "Danny. You've seen how people have been falling asleep during classes today, right?" When Danny Sam and Tucker all nodded indefinitely, Danielle then said, indicating the passage she had just come from, "I think I just found the cause of it."

With the Goth and techno-geek in close step behind them, the two Phantoms hurried back in the direction Danielle had just come from. They slowed to a careful walk before they reached a hall intersection. Just before they peered around the corner, the Phantom's ghost senses went off.

Staying alert, all four of the teenagers looked around the corner to see several green entities floating around, creeping up on students who were just going about their own business, emitting a powdery substance from their fingers that fell on the students, who immediately after just collapsed to the floor.

"Sleepwalkers." Danny said quietly, recognizing the shape of these particular specters that actually had legs and had their eyes closed all the time, though from past experience, he figured that they could still see.

Danielle looked back at him with a weird look. "They look like they're just falling over to me." She said, meaning the students who were being victimized by the dream dust.

"No, no. I'm talking about the ghosts." Danny corrected. "They're called Sleepwalkers." He looked back up, observing the scene in thought. "Looks like Nocturn's at work again."

"But why didn't he send these guys after you first, Danny?" Tucker asked. "The last time he attacked, he made sure you were out of the way before he went for anyone else."

"Maybe he knew my ghost-sense would pick them up if they tried to sneak up on me and alert everyone else." Danny replied.

"Hmm. That makes sense." Danielle put in. "I was at my locker when two of them tried to come up behind me when _my_ ghost-sense went off. When I turned around and saw them, they seemed to freak out."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Well, they tried to nail me with that dusty stuff anyway, but when I used my plasma ray on them, they just disintegrated. But there were a few others nearby that just took off when they saw me do it. That's when I came to find you guys."

"Wait. They just ran off?" Danny asked, a bit surprised. Danielle nodded.

The hybrid boy looked at his two friends who seemed to be pondering this as well.

"What's wrong?" Danielle asked, when she noticed the three's faces.

"The Sleepwalkers are basically just drones who mindlessly obey Nocturn. He's a ghost who gets his power from people's dreams and conjures these guys with it. Based on past battles I've had with them, they don't usually get spooked from any threat." Danny explained.

"Why'd they run from _me_ then?" Danielle inquired after hearing this.

This is where Sam shook Danny's arm to get his attention. "What if they weren't?" she said, as if sounding suspicious.

Danny just stared at her as if asking her to spill the beans a bit more, but then creepy sounds alerted them all. Danny quickly grabbed the other three and turned himself and everyone invisible as a few Sleepwalkers suddenly hovered by where they were hiding.

"Well, either way," Danny began, turning visible again when the ghosts had passed. "The longer we let these guys work, the more powerful Nocturn's gonna get. And we can't have that." With that said, he switched to his ghost mode. "Tucker. Sam. The people they put to sleep already didn't seem to have those weird headsets this time. You guys go around and wake up anyone you can. Get the Fenton Wrist Rays in case you run into any Sleepwalkers on the way."

Then he flew around the corner as Sam and Tucker ran off to do what Danny suggested. Danielle was about to follow her cousin into battle but just then, more Sleepwalkers suddenly phased from the ceiling, blocking her way. She swung her arm around, setting off a wave of ecto energy from her hand that hit all of them at once. On contact, the green, entities dissolved away.

Then she channeled her own power and changed to her Phantom form. But just as she finished, she heard an unfamiliar voice coming from behind her. "Ah. So it _is_ you." Danielle spun around just in time to see a huge, ghost suddenly appear in a cloud of purple mist. His tall and dark body almost stretched to the height of the ceiling and almost looked like it was an opening to a black and star-filled night. His ram-horned head was purple, but his face was white and his eyes were a menacing red. One of them seemed to have a scar on it. He also had a small black beard on his pointed chin. Instead of feet, there were six creepy tentacles that slowly moved about as if they were under water. "_You're_ the new ghost-girl everyone has been talking about." He said this with an evil smile. Danielle could see small, pointed fangs in his mouth as he spoke.

"Nice to meet you too, Nocturn." Danielle said back, after getting over the surprise of how he had known who she was. "In fact, I've got a little something for you." Then she fired a powerful plasma ray from her palm that hit the horned ghost right in the middle of his body, blasting a big hole in his form. But to her surprise, he didn't even flinch at her attack. After just a moment, the hole she had just made resealed itself as if the ghost had never been hit.

Nocturn smiled after his recovery was complete. "How convenient. I have a present for you as well." Then he elevated his long arms with spiky elbows and ended with huge, hands with claw-like fingers. "Sleepwalkers! Form!" He bellowed. His voice echoed, making the walls almost vibrate and more of the green drones of his suddenly materialized, surrounding the girl.

She tried to beat them back with a series of Plasma rays, but they kept coming. Eventually they became too many for her to handle and two of them successfully grabbed hold of her. The Phantom clone tried to phase out of their grasp, but for some reason, she couldn't.

Nocturn had heard of Danielle coming as a bit of a surprise during other battles Danny Phantom had been in with other ghosts lately. The ghost of sleep wanted to make doubly sure that this same stunt wasn't pulled on him. So he sprung his own trap on Danny's element of surprise.

Just as he thought he was triumphant in seeing young Danielle trying to break free, blue beams of energy suddenly came out of nowhere, hitting the Sleepwalkers and freezing them solid in ice. The same blue beams hit the ones that had Danielle.

Nocturn's own sneak-attack backfired enough for the ghost girl to take advantage of it. The now frozen Sleepwalkers still had her by the arms, but she used her enhanced ghost-strength to spin around like a windmill until they were flung off her and thrown right at Nocturn. The frozen ghosts hit him dead on, forcing him back and onto the floor. The ice-encased specters shattered when they hit the floor after him.

By this time Danny had landed next to his little cousin with blue auras just fading from his hands. "I thought coming to school was already a nightmare, Nocturn. But seeing _your_ face again?" He said to the dream thief.

Tucker and Sam were just coming down the hall in hearing the commotion. They had woken several people and had asked them to help wake anyone else they found sleeping and to be on the lookout for the Sleepwalkers. The two had just come back around the corner to see Nocturn suddenly look up from his place on the floor and send a wave of his own blue ghost-energy. But it hit only Danny instead of both of the Phantoms, like expected.

After the ghost boy was blown several feet back, Danielle gasped in feeling herself suddenly rise above the ground, but not of her own doing. Nocturn was using a telekinetic power and he used it to throw the girl into the grasp of more Sleepwalkers he had called forth. Before Danielle could do anything, the horned ghost extended a dark hand out towards her and his fingers emitted a blue misty substance. She instantly felt herself getting drowsy when the blue mist started floating around her face and Nocturn let out an echoing laugh as the girl's eyes drooped shut.

Danny was still recovering from being blown back and only saw as Danielle suddenly went limp in the grasp of the green dream-powered henchmen who then started to vanish with her. "No!" Danny cried as he tried to go after them, but had to dodge another blast, sent by Nocturn, before the Sleepwalkers disappeared with his cousin entirely. "What do you want with Danielle? Where are you taking her?" Danny demanded to Nocturn.

"I sensed something about her dreams that gives me more energy than anyone else's." Was the huge ghost's calm response. "It won't matter how many of your fellow students your friends were able to waken if I have _her_ dreams to give me the power I need." This is where Danny realized why the Sleepwalkers had run from Danielle before. They weren't afraid of her, they were just scouts. Sent to find the human identity of the girl Phantom before Nocturn sprung his trap.

Nocturn raised his hands again, conjuring more Sleepwalkers that went after Danny. Tucker and Sam now jumped in the battle with Fenton Wrist Rays and started blasting away at the specters. With his friends help, Danny was able to fight them all off. Some even got caught in the Fenton Thermos if they didn't have to be disintegrated. But by the time the hall was clear of the Sleepwalkers, Nocturn had disappeared.

Danny let out an angered cry and slammed a clenched fist on the lockers that lined the wall next to him. "I should have know he was planning something with Dani when he snuck up on her instead of me." He said aloud, but more to himself than his friends. Sam and Tucker looked at him sympathetically before he turned his full attention on them. "We've got to find him before he uses her dreams and becomes too strong for us to handle. Tuck. Can you use your PDA to track any weird technology?"

"I can try, but do you really think Nocturn will be using another dream-machine if he's not even using those headsets, like last time?" Tucker asked, attaching a satellite-type gadget to his PDA.

"Based on what he just said, he might be using one on Dani."

This was logical enough. So Tucker went to work with his PDA. It wasn't long before he did indeed find something strange that had not been there the day before. And it was still inside the building. Or rather, on top of it.

After Tucker told Danny the exact location the signal was coming from, Danny took a Fenton Thermos, went intangible and flew through the ceiling. Sam was about to object, that it could be a trap, but Danny went too fast. Tucker then ran off to see if he could get back to waking people up. The less people asleep, the slower Nocturn would gain power from their dreams, and the easier it would be for Danny to take him on.

Sam would have done the same, but she started to have some thoughts, staring up at the ceiling at the place where Danny had just disappeared. Ever since hearing him explain how Danielle was really a clone, Sam had always had some uncertainties. She at first had passed them up as simple paranoia. But lately, she had observed Danielle's behavior in certain situations: Especially in her methods of dealing with Dash. And there were a few other instances during battles with some ghosts that also started to rouse suspicions in the Goth about the female hybrid. Sam had never brought the subject up to anyone else, especially Danny, because she knew how he was. He would more than likely just get upset at her for even thinking negatively about the girl he considered family. Nevertheless, the Goth friend of the ghost hero was starting to question to herself if having the hybrid double around all the time was such a good idea.

000000

Danny appeared outside on the roof of the school and after a few seconds of looking around, he saw the unmistakable form of Nocturn. He was bending over Danielle's limp form that indeed now had the metal helmet-like device on her head. Nocturn was steadily growing bigger as he was absorbing the energy her dreams gave him and the metal headset kept her in a deep sleep that she would never be able to awaken from: At lease not on her own.

Danny learned the hard way that he could not touch the headset without receiving a literal shock. But he had dealt with this before. All he would have to do is overshadow her and see what she was dreaming. Then he would be able to come up with something creative and unexpected that would turn that dream into a nightmare that would scare her awake.

As he tried to sneak up behind Nocturn to jump inside Danielle's dream, the large, dark ghost spun around, shouting, "Sleepwalkers! Form!"

This surprised Danny a bit as the green apparitions came swarming around him, but Danny simply scoffed, rubbing his head as if irritated. "Nocturn, have you come up with anything new at all since the first time we fought?" He asked.

"Have _you_, ghost boy?" Nocturn replied.

"Like I _need_ to. It's only a few people in the school who are asleep this time Nocturn, and my friends are going around taking care of that."

"Ah, but I have the power I need to sustain myself right here." Nocturn indicated Danielle who was laid close by him, where he could easily absorb whatever dreams she was having.

Danny looked at his clone's motionless body. "What makes her dreams so powerful, anyway." He demanded, when the thought occurred to him.

"I've told you once before. Dreams are the gateway to the subconscious. And the dreams your look-alike has here are ones that she feels very strongly have a very likely chance of coming true. Ones that she fears very greatly will come to pass."

As soon as he said the word "Fear", Danny's concerns were starting to grow. The dreams Nocturn had him and his peers in were ones of living in a paradise that they didn't want to wake up from. But as the ghost-boy looked back at his cousin and seeing her expression, he could tell that she was not envisioning any such place. "You're making her live through her worst nightmare." Danny realized aloud.

"That's right." Nocturn said, with a very menacing grin. "And you won't be able to wake her from a dream that's already a nightmare."

Danny glared at the dream-manipulating ghost. "We'll see about that." He proclaimed, with a deadly whisper, and he shot blue rays of his ice-cold energy, encasing the surrounding Sleepwalkers in ice. Then he flew at Danielle, turning intangible and before Nocturn could stop him, he jumped into his ghost clone's head.

But just as the boy disappeared, Nocturn simply laughed folding his long arms. He had confidence that Danny was not going to be able to wake this one. So many overwhelming things were already happening in her dream that another shock was not going to help. In the meantime, his conjured army would continue to put the Casper High students to sleep. Then he would move on to the rest of the town. The ghost hero's two friends wouldn't be able to take on so many at once. If all went well, soon they would be asleep as well. And once Danny gave up trying to wake his cousin, he would have his dreams helping to power him up as well, until nothing could stop him.

Danielle continued to lay where she was as the ghost of the night continued to absorb her dreams and steadily get stronger. She started to move around in her sleep as her dream began to disturb her. In the visions she was having in her mind's eye, she was fighting against Vlad who had returned when everyone thought that he was gone for good. She couldn't defeat him. He overpowered her greatly. He had after all created her. He knew and predicted her every move. Her new speed power didn't even help because he could teleport. She couldn't do anything as he was taking her back to his lab to try again to find out what about her made her so different from the other clones he had made. But then something completely unexpected happened. Something so weird, it couldn't be happening at all. Why in the world, or even the whole universe, would Vlad suddenly drop what he was doing and start doing the Funky Chicken?

Danielle gasped (and so did Nocturn) as her eyes suddenly shot open and she bolted upright. The medal helmet that the evil ghost had placed on her head shattered and Danny, in his intangible state was suddenly shot from her head and he landed hard, several feet away on the concrete roof of the school.

"What? But how?" Nocturn questioned, completely astonished at the possibility of his enemy being able to wake his main source of power. The dark ghost felt himself grow suddenly weaker despite the other dreams he was absorbing in addition to Danielle's. This incident came so unexpectedly, he didn't even notice Danny take out the Fenton Thermos and point it at the ghost who had made his cousin live out possible the worst dream she had in her whole time of existence.

"Say goodnight, Dream-eater." Danny stated. The next thing anyone new, Nocturn was sucked into the Thermos and his power over everyone else in Casper High was lifted.

Danny shoved the lid on the Thermos and looked up at Danielle who was still sitting where she had only seconds before been asleep. She had a fearful look on her face as it reflected back on what she had just been dreaming despite the weird sight that she had seen that resulted in her waking up. Danny walked over to her as she started looking around, wondering how she had gotten on the roof of the school. Danny knelt next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Dani, are you okay?" He asked, shaking her just a bit.

She didn't answer. A silent moment passed before she finally let out a distressed moan. She hugged her knees and hid her face as if trying to forget the nightmare that Danny had just witnessed her having. "Do you have dreams like that often?" Danny continued.

This time Danielle nodded and looked up from her knees. "It seemed so real this time, though." She almost whispered this and Danny saw her eyes beginning to water with tears.

Danny helped the clone to her feet and gave her a hug. "It's okay, Dani." He said, trying to comfort her as she started to weep softly. "Vlad's gone. He's _been_ gone. It was just a nightmare."

Maybe so. But Danielle had had several reoccurring nightmares of Vlad returning and coming after her to continue his cloning research. Sometimes she was back in the lab and about to be melted down again. But what really was eating at her was the way Vlad had deceived her in making her think that he really cared for her as his own child. Then he suddenly turns around saying that his prime clone was the only one he really cared about and tries to murder her.

Sometimes she did wish that Vlad would come back, but knew that if he did, he would never even begin to pretend to love her again without it being some sort of trap. Ever since that day when she had found out her creator's true feelings for her, she had felt an empty place inside her that had grown since Vlad nearly destroyed her. A place she was never able to fill. Not even to this day.

**_I had always thought of doing a fight with Nocturn where people thought at first that classes were just getting extra boring because of finals coming up. Blackjay was the one who came up with the idea of Danny overshadowing Vlad and making him do the Funky Chicken. My sister and I laughed our heads off when she came up with that. I hope you readers were as amused as we were. In fact I hope this whole plot of the chapter turned out okay. Danielle's and Sam's current feeling are actually supposed to be a big part of a scene that's coming up in a later chapter. I promise things will start getting more exciting like it did at the beginning before this whole story is over. I'm just trying to set the stage here._**


	20. Doubts of a Double

_**Okay. Now the more interesting part of the story continues. Sam is getting suspicions and Danielle is starting to have some doubts of her own. I hope you guys like this one. Blackjay, seemed to like it when I read the first draft to her. I hope you guys do too.**_

**Chapter 20: Doubts of a Double**

The incident with Nocturn had come and gone, but the same thing could not be said about Danielle's memories of it. It took a time span of several days for her to get over the dream that the evil ghost had forced her to envision as he gathered power. Luckily though, as finals were happening and the End-of-School dance was just around the corner, she seemed to become less edgy about it.

Danny himself had long been planning to take Sam to the social event. However, he was a bit concerned about his little cousin, whom he noticed seemed to be more exited about finals than the dance. She had never really been able to go to any other academic activities because of attending to ghost-problems with Danny all the time. But she never wanted to go to them anyway. It was as if Danny was the only one she really trusted to be around for very long, aside from his family and Valerie. The young clone didn't get to know anyone else very well since she started school because of this. But Danny thought it would be nice if they both went to the dance and took a break from ghost fighting. And even though Tucker had become quite busy with his own schedule, being the mayor, he was more than happy to be the one to take the, by now, famed ghost-cousin of Danny Phantom to the dance.

"Danny, I may be the mayor of Amity Park, but I'm still a teenager and I'm still going to school. The city counsel will understand completely." Tucker had said reassuringly to Danny when the subject had been brought up.

Danielle was a bit hesitant at first in going at all, but after a bit of persuasion by Danny as well as his sister and parents, she had agreed to go. Especially when Danny had suggested that they didn't showoff with any flashy entrance as being the town's teenage Phantom Ghost-Fighters. (Though, Tucker still wanted to make his own appearance by at least wearing his mayor's top hat with his tuxedo that he would wear that night.)

Both Fenton cousins arrived at the dance with their dates in quite the normal fashion, but, though it wasn't unexpected, there were still quite a few people staring at them as they entered the dance floor. They _were_ after all hero celebrities. Quite a few girls were looking at Sam longingly as if they had hopes that Danny would be asking one of _them_ to the Dance: Particularly Paullina, who disappointedly had Dash as her escort.

Danielle eyed Dash and rolled her eyes as the jock looked back at her dreamily for the hundredth time since she started school.

Though Dash's constant glances in her direction were always annoying, Danny perceived that Danielle was still able to have a good time at the End-of-School celebration. He sometimes watched her from the refreshments stands as she and his best friend swung it out on the dance floor.

The teenage clone was wearing a long, blue dress that had actually once belonged to Jazz. But the older sister of Danny's had never really worn it. She was never interested in going to these kinds of events. She was usually staying at home studying or filling out college applications.

Danielle's bangs still hung over half of her face, but her hair was up in a fancy knot that Sam's mother assisted in making. Mrs. Manson was all about fashion and was always trying to get Sam to wear some things she was always selecting for her. Sam avoided doing so whenever she could help it, and figuring out what to wear for the End-of-School dance was no different. But Mrs. Manson was satisfied that she at least got to drab _someone_ up a bit for the last school activity of the year. And who better than the new superhero cousin of Danny Phantom?

Some time in the night, there was a point where the DJ suggested that the two cousins Phantom come on the dance floor together to start off a new song. Both were taken aback by the request, but everyone there kept on urging them on, chanting, "Danny-Duo. Danny-Duo." until they finally gave in.

It actually turned out to be quite fun, despite Danielle's beginning reluctance. And she was thankful that more people came on the floor to join them before the song was over. But just as the music stopped and everyone was applauding, the ovation suddenly turned into panicking screams as two ghosts suddenly phased into the room: Two, giant, green, octopus-shaped specters that started to grab students within their reach as they tried to scatter.

"Oh, man. I _really_ hoped I wouldn't have to do this tonight." Danny said, letting out a groan of frustration and Going Ghost. His parents had volunteered to take care of any local ghost problems so he and Danielle wouldn't have to suddenly take off from the event, but he didn't count on the ones that might actually appear at the dance.

"You and me both." Danielle responded. "So who are these guys?"

"I call them ecto-puses." Danny said as he started to hover about a foot above the floor next to her. "More of Vlad's whacked-out experiments. They shouldn't be too tough, though."

Danielle's determined expression suddenly changed when she heard the part about Vlad's experiments and looked over at Danny. "Wait…more of Vlad's…" she stammered.

But Danny wasn't listening. "Come on." He said as he took off, shooting his plasma-ray at the ecto-puses' tentacles that had caught hold of some of the students. The ecto-puses screeched in pain, dropping their victims who ran off as soon as they were on the floor.

Sam watched from the side, eyeing Danielle, noticing that she was being hesitant in going into battle this time. "Aren't you gonna do something?' She came up to Danielle and asked.

"Oh…um…" Danielle hesitated again, but Going Ghost when she realized how she was stalling. Sam folded her arms in observation, watching as Danielle still seemed unsure of exactly what to do. The Goth had caught how the clone-girl had looked so prepared to do this until Danny had said that these particular ghosts were more creations of Vlad's. This was starting to look a bit suspicious to Sam and her thoughts that she had been having about the clone throughout the year were growing.

It didn't take long for the Phantoms to round the ecto-puses into the Fenton thermos that Tucker luckily had brought with him, but by the end, after the teenage hybrids had touched down on the floor again and turning human, they were both looking at each other as if confused. Danny was the first among the two who spoke. "Danielle what's the matter? You looked like you were holding back."

Danielle looked down at the floor a bit regretfully, but still puzzled. "You said…" she trailed off at first. "…They were more…experiments…and you were just…" she didn't have to finish before Danny suddenly realized what was wrong.

He never thought that Danielle might never have known how Vlad was always conducting weird experiment with ghosts before he even started to try to clone Danny. Most of which had ended up being servants sent to go after Danny or try and kill his father. The ecto-puses were no different. While it may have taken Danielle a bit of proof and persuasion, she had turned away from that a long time ago. Danny had already seen how she was being abused by Vlad and knew that she just didn't understand what she was really doing, so he refused to attack her, even after he had found out that she was working for his archenemy. The ecto-puses on the other hand, even though Vlad no longer commanded them, they still liked going around causing trouble that Danny was always having to deal with.

Danny was going to explain this to the female clone, but people were starting to gather back into the room now that it was safe to come out and Sam suddenly came up to Danny, taking his wrist. "Can I talk to you for a second?" She said to him.

Danny blinked at the unexpected question and tried to read Sam's expression to try and predict what might be bothering her, but he couldn't get anything. He then turned to Danielle. "Hold that thought, okay." He said, as Sam was pulling him away.

Danielle looked confused and quite surprised when Sam looked back at her as if she had just done something wrong. That was when Tucker approached her with the same question Danny asked her about holding back. Danny saw as his friend began to talk with the confused clone. Tucker understood about Vlad already. He would be able to explain.

000000

Sam took Danny to a place in the school halls where it was empty and quiet. They stood next to a line of lockers, and after Sam had made sure no one was around and able to listen in, she turned to her half-ghost friend. "Danny, have you ever had any weird feelings about Danielle?"

Danny cocked an eyebrow at the Goth girl. "You're saying that as if there's something suspicious going on about her."

"I think maybe there is." Sam confirmed with a nod.

Danny scoffed as if the very thought was ridiculous. "Like what?" He asked his friend with a small laugh.

"Danny, haven't you noticed her behavior lately? Especially towards Dash? She's done a few things with him that Vlad would praise."

After a few seconds of consideration, the ghost boy nodded. "Okay. I'll talk to her and say that you have a problem with it. But honestly Sam, there's nothing to worry about. _I_ did the same thing once. Remember?"

"Yeah, but you weren't so _open_ about it."

"I hadn't revealed my secret identity at the time."

"And you think Danielle had a right to humiliate him like that time in the cafeteria, just because _she_ didn't have one anymore?" Danny couldn't deny that she had a point on this, but he didn't vocally admit it. "And that's not the only problem I'm concerned with." Sam continued. Danny folded his arms with a confused expression, waiting for her to explain. The Goth looked both ways down the hall as if thinking that the walls had ears. She lowered her voice before beginning to express her concerns. "Danny, whenever she does it, she gets a look in her eyes that reminds me of how Vlad used to look at _you_ before he tried to clobber. It's happened a few times in certain battles you've fought together, too."

Danny sighed, shaking his head. "An unfortunate family resemblance then." He argued.

Sam turned her head up towards the ceiling with a small groan before moving on. How could he have not noticed any of this before? Was he really that clueless? "You were usually always the first one to suspect something when you learned of anything that had to do with Vlad. I'm surprised it hasn't become obvious." She said aloud and sounding quite frustrated.

Danny just started to stare at his friend, not answering for a while. "What exactly are you getting at, Sam?" He asked, now acting as if he was suspecting _her_ of something.

The friend of the ghost-hero took a breath to calm down. "Have you read the newspaper lately?" She began again.

Danny slouched forward, a bit annoyed. "Sam, you know you're the only one among us who actually pays attention to that thing."

Sam gave him a look as if asking him to take this subject more seriously. "In the polls section, it's saying that there are people who think that Danielle's just trying to replace you as the town's ghost-hero."

The ghost-boy glanced off to the side, still not exactly understanding where this was going. "So?" He repeated with a shrug. "Not everyone has the same opinion."

"But Danny. What if they're right?" At this, the teenage hero, looked at her in surprise. Sam sighed heavily. This wasn't going to be easy to express this. Especially considering Danny's family had adopted Danielle. But if she didn't say something about it soon, it may be too late later. "Danny…" she began slowly. "I can't help but think that these battles she's helped you with is all…just…an act."

"What?" Danny responded, and started to laugh. Now this really _was_ the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. "Why would Danielle be _acting_?"

Sam gave him another look and raised her voice to get him to stop laughing. "Haven't you noticed how much she hesitated when you were fighting the ecto-puses just now?" She said, gesturing in the direction of the room where the dance was taking place a few halls away. "As soon as you said that they were made by Vlad, she was stalling. What if she's still working with him?"

Danny's amusement had now gone in hearing this and uphaulment was starting to enter his own voice as he responded. "Vlad's been gone for two years!"

"And his lab experiments remain constantly coming after you." Sam shot back, her own tone still rising.

"Are you saying that you think Danielle's plotting against me?'

"She's a _clone,_ Danny!" Sam shouted. Throwing her hands up in frustration. "An experiment-gone-wrong conducted by your archenemy, who tried to destroy your whole family since your parents got married! For all you know, she _could_ be!" Danny's eyes widened as his friend so boldly finished her statement and he glared at her as if daring her to repeat what she had just said about his little cousin. Sam didn't stop there. "And you said yourself that before Freakshow, you hadn't seen or even heard from her in two years. In fact three, since you hadn't seen much of her in between the first two visits!" Danny rolled his eyes and turned his head to the side in ignorance as she went on. "In all that time, even if she isn't planning to get you, someone else certainly is and she could have…!"

Sam suddenly stopped when she saw her friend's eyes widen again in surprise. He was still looking off to the side and Sam followed his gaze to where she caught a flash of something moving as it quickly disappeared behind the corner to the intersecting hall.

Danny quickly ran towards the same corner looking worried as Sam followed, thinking another ghost might be attacking. They both turned the corner and Sam gasped in seeing that it was no ghost, but Tucker, who must have been hiding there, listening to every angered word that the two were saying for who knows how long. And standing just in front of him was…

"Danielle." Danny said, with shock written all over his face. "Tucker." He added, looking up at the teenage mayor. "How long have you guys been standing there?" He asked, looking back at Danielle anxiously, and fearing the worst.

Danielle just stared back up at him with tear-swelling eyes and her own shocked look of being betrayed on her face. This was almost the exact same way Vlad had tried to act innocent after he had found out she had been listening in on something she wasn't meant to hear.

There was a long and anxious moment of silence as the four of them just gawked at each other. Danielle's gaze shifted between Sam and Danny before her tears began to run down her face.

She turned and started to run away, but before she took a step, Danny caught her by the arm to hold her back. Tucker, being in front of her, also helped by grabbing her shoulders. "Dani, hold on. I'm sure Sam didn't mean…" but Tucker wasn't able to finish as Danielle turned herself intangible, escaping from Danny's grip and phasing right through Tucker's body.

The hurt clone sped down the hall a ways and more tears fell from her eyes, as she was Going Ghost. "Dani, wait!" Her older cousin yelled after her as he saw her transform. But she kept going as she turned intangible again, took off through the ceiling and was gone.

Danny felt a sinking feeling in his chest grow as he looked on after where his heartbroken cousin had vanished. After a second, Tucker broke the apprehensive silence, turning to Sam in an accusation. "Sheesh. And you keep saying _I_ talk too much." He said, glaring at her.

"Oh, shut it." the Goth replied to him, rather rudely.

Danny spun around to face her and said angrily, "Actually Sam, he has a point." He then changed into his Phantom form and was about to go after Danielle when Sam stopped him.

"Wait a minute, Danny. What if she _wants_ you to follow her?"

Danny scoffed crossly as he hovered a bit above the floor. "Oh, and I suppose _Vlad_ sent her to lure me into another trap of his." He remarked in his still infuriated tone.

"It's possible." Sam confirmed

Danny shook his head, not believing that something like this was coming out of the mouth of his best friend. He landed in front of her and Sam took a few fearful steps backwards as he suddenly started advancing on her in anger. "The whole reason I have my powers in the first place is from the result of a complete accident, that you so happened to have been involved in." He said, as their movement only stopped when they were passed Tucker, who was gawking at the two as they argued. "Vlad got his powers in the same way. Does that make _me_ like Vlad? Does that make _me_ a flawed experiment to you?"

Sam was completely taken aback by the question and didn't answer right away. And when she did, she stammered with it. "Well…your situation is different…"

"No it isn't!" Danny responded immediately. "And with what you just said about Danielle, _she's_ not the one you should be worrying about being like Vlad, Sam. _You_ are."

Danny put a lot of emphasis on these last two words and by the end of the statement; _Sam_ was the one who looked shock with how she was being spoken to. Danny looked angrily at her for another moment before turning away and quickly took off through the ceiling to go after his cousin.

"Ouch." Tucker said bluntly after Danny had disappeared. "That's gotta hurt."

"I said, shut it!" Sam turned angrily at Tucker and she yanked the brim of his top hat over his eyes so he couldn't see before she stopped away.

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As soon as Danny made it outside the school, he looked around frantically to see if he could spot where Danielle had gone. He peered through the darkness of the night sky, not seeing any sign of movement. Where could she have gone?

Danny racked his brains for a second, trying to think of any place she would go after hearing a conversation like that. The first and only thing he could really think of was the underground Fenton Works. _It's_ _worth a shot._ He thought to himself as he sped off in the direction of the hidden teleportation pad that was in the high school football field.

He didn't even bother to land as he activated the voice key, telling the pad to take him down to the house. As soon as he was inside, he phased up to the second floor, landing in the hall. He had just come up in time to see Danielle suddenly rush out of her bedroom, now changed into her normal human outfit of the light blue, hooded shirt and red slacks. As soon as she saw Danny though, she looked panicked, went Phantom and took off through the ceiling again.

Danny pursued, calling after her. They were both outside, and the ghost-boy chased his look-alike as she rose further into the air, heading away from the town. Danielle was about to use her plasma rocket to get away, but Danny managed to pull in front of her, blocking her path before she could do it.

The clone stopped abruptly in the air, letting out a shrieking gasp as she nearly ran into her cousin. But that wasn't what Danny was concerned about. One look at her face told him that she was emotionally shattered with what she had just overheard. "Dani. Where are you going?" He asked, in a worried tone.

Danielle started to cry again as she looked down to avoid his gaze. "I don't know." She said through soft weeping. "But I can't stay _here_ anymore."

The teenage boy looked at his cousin solemnly as his own feelings sunk. "Dani, whatever you heard back there you shouldn't be taking it so hard." He said, putting his hands on her shoulders, trying to reassure her.

Danielle knocked them away and started to glare at him through her wet eyes. "_An experiment-gone-wrong_?" She quoted. "It sounds more to me like it's best if I just stay away from you." She started to float around to the other side of Danny when he started to speak again.

"But Dani, if you just leave, what am I going to tell my parents? And it's only going to make Sam more suspicious."

Danielle stopped when she had made it to the other side of her airborne cousin. She didn't answer for a moment as a few tears escaped her eyes and started to run down her cheeks once more. "I may have been made from you Danny…but your family was never mine." Danny looked at her in concern after she said this. She sniffled, wiping her tears before turning to face him and explain further. "Ever since Vlad made me, I've always felt something…empty…inside me. Like I was missing something." Danny listened intently to this as she sadly went on. "I thought at first it was because I hadn't been stabilized. But even after you helped that to happen, that lack of something just kept on lagging on with me. Living with you hasn't changed that." She paused looking down again, gazing sorrowfully down at the lit up city below her that she felt that only Danny had a right to call home. "In fact…" she began to add as her tears started up again. "I don't think that place will _ever_ be filled anymore."

Danny's remorse for the young girl started to make him feel so heavy, he was surprised the weight of it wasn't making him sink back down to the ground far below them. He had always thought something was bothering her. How could he not have even asked about it? His own guilt in addition to the concern for Danielle started to sink deeper inside him as he looked at her face that reflected more hopelessness than he had ever seen in anyone.

"But…Danielle…" he tried to say. "That doesn't mean you have to go." He said, almost starting to sound like he was begging.

Danielle spun around to face him again and through tears of anger, she shot back, "If people think that I'm just out to destroy you and the reputation you've rightfully earned, then what other choice do I have?" She tried to fly off again before Danny grabbed her by the arm.

She tried to turn intangible to pull herself free, but he was expecting this and he made himself intangible at the same time, still able to keep a good hold on her. She tried to turn solid again in another attempt to get him to let go, but he followed suit again, keeping a firm hold.

"Dani, just because there are some negative opinions about you doesn't mean…" he began to say before his clone spun around, igniting her free hand with a green charge.

"Let go of me!" She shouted and Danny almost gasped in seeing an old enemy suddenly glaring out at him through her eyes. The next thing he knew, he felt himself careening backwards through the air, down towards the city.

He regained himself swiftly after being forced back a few yards, holding his chest where it was hurting and he looked up in shock at his cousin who had just openly attacked him.

Danielle looked panic-stricken, looking at her own hand as a green vapor was still rising from it.

There was a moment where both Phantoms just floated where they were above Amity Park, staring at each other, completely shocked at what just happened: What Danielle had just done.

The clone hybrid looked fearfully at him before she suddenly turned around. Danny saw her shoes start to glow with a bright green charge. "No! Dani, stop!" Danny cried out, but her emission of ecto-energy shot her forward and far away at a speed he would never be able to catch up to her with.

Even though that regard was hopeless, he started to fly after her anyway. She still couldn't keep up that speed for very long and would have to let it off soon if she was to stay in her ghost form. Besides. It wasn't safe for her to be out on her own anymore. A lot more people knew her now, including several ghost enemies.

And no matter what Sam said about Danielle and whether she had just deliberately attacked him or not, he refused to believe that she would be trying to bring him down. His constantly reoccurring memories of how Vlad tried to destroy her were far more than enough for him to stand by his belief that Sam was wrong.

_**My sister seemed to approve of this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it too. But I really need your opinions on chapter 18. Please comment on it and tell me if you think I should rewrite it or maybe just delete it. But it does explain how Sam's concerns start acting up. **_


	21. Substitution

_**(Disclaimer: Danny Phantom and all of its original characters are owned by Butch Hartman. The only thing the author of this story actually owns is the design for the older version of Danielle Phantom. Posted by on livevideo(dot)com))**_

_**Okay. Here's another part I had been panning out for a while. I don't really know what else to say other than to just read and enjoy. **_

**Chapter 21: Substitution**

Danielle sped through the air as fast as her plasma rocket could carry her as if desperately trying to escape something frightening: Like the memories of what had happened only a few seconds ago. She had only gone this fast with it once before and that was for the space mission for Axion Labs. She felt her own tears grow cold from the velocity she was going at and it stung her face.

It was only when she was above the Woods of Lake Eerie that she finally let off her plasma rocket. She was starting to get a bit tired anyway and she couldn't let herself lose too much power. She would turn back to her human form and start falling at least a hundred feet from the air. She had already experienced a fall like that and didn't want to have to do it again any time soon.

Breathing rather heavily and drying her eyes, she slowed to a stop, looking back in the direction of the town she had just escaped. Now that she had an overall view of it, she started to think that maybe she had stopped here, not because she was afraid of losing too much energy, but to take one last look at Amity Park. At this distance it was a large cluster of lights shining brightly in the night, making it an incredible view to behold in comparison to the wreck she had seen it in when she had first arrived there. It seemed that Danny's return to it after his ordeal with Freakshow had brightened it up exceedingly. And only Danny had the right to call it home.

Not only was she now leaving him and the other Fentons behind, but also the memories she had gained in being around them for so long, both good and bad. One particularly bad one was still fresh in her mind and she just couldn't escape it, no matter how fast or how far away she flew. She had just attacked the one person she had always looked up to. The one she had always turned to for help. The only one whom she felt had considered her family despite her origins.

Her eyes started to become cold and wet again when the image of Danny's face was appearing in her mind. She shut her eyes tight, as if trying to block it out, but the shocked look he had given her after she had hit him only seemed to plant itself more firmly in her head. As her cousin's expression showed itself clearer than ever, she was deeply regretting getting so angry with him. Since the first day she had met him, she never argued with him like that, if at all. And using her own power in such a cruel way, just to get him to let go of her arm? How could she have done such a thing? What had possibly gotten into her?

Danielle looked down at her hands. The hands that had just brought harm to the teenage boy whom she felt was the only one she could really trust. After what she had just done, how could _he_ even trust _her_ anymore? The only time she had ever deliberately attacked the boy before was back when she worked for Vlad Plasmius. Maybe Sam was right. What if Danielle really was evil? What if Vlad had done something to her that would make sure that she would somehow remain on his side? No that was ridiculous. She was a clone, not a robot.

Still, Danielle's head started ringing with the conversation she had just overheard back there. Especially the part about Sam referring to her as "an experiment-gone-wrong." Was that what Danny's family also thought of her as? A mistake? An accident that wasn't even supposed to happen? That she shouldn't even exist? The way Vlad had considered her to be?

And what of the people who _didn't_ know she was a clone…yet? If they did gain that knowledge, Danielle just knew that they would be thinking about her the same. Even worse, if they knew the most evil ghost that ever lived had made her, they would certainly think that she was still on his side.

Maybe she still was. Maybe all this time, she had just been fooling herself into thinking that she would be able to defy the hands that had helped her to come to be. The hands she thought had cared for her, but had lied; the hands that threatened her and had nearly destroyed her; the hands of the one…who was the cause of her hollowness inside.

Vlad was gone, Danny's peers disapproved of her, the citizens of his hometown thought she was out to get their hero…in fact, had just shot him…

Danielle hid her face in her hands and started to cry even harder. She felt so sorry for what had just happened, but she couldn't find the right within her to even forgive herself. She could never return to Amity Park. What if something like that happened again? She couldn't let it. She couldn't let herself be the cause of Danny getting hurt. And at this point, it seemed that the best way to prevent that…was to stay as far away from him as possible.

_I'm so sorry, Danny._ She said apologetically in her head as if he could somehow hear her last, sorrowful apology, even from so far off.

She sorrowfully turned and was starting to fly away when all of a sudden, something flashed behind her and she cried out from feeling something painfully hit the back of her shoulder. "What the…" she agonizingly exclaimed, putting a hand where it now hurt and looking behind her to see what had just shot her.

As she saw something moving in the darkness towards her, she felt her heart starting to beat faster and flashes of her getting ambushed several months ago began to fly through her head. She instantly recognized a pair of white headlights that had just come on. The Guys in White were coming after her again.

She sped off in fear and heard the flying machine begin to pursue her. She knew she couldn't turn invisible, since the scanners seemed to be able to detect her anyway. She couldn't use her plasma rocket again just now either. She wouldn't be able to get far anyway after using a lot of energy to do it already. She looked behind her to see that the flying vehicle was getting closer. Wait. There was only _one_ pair of lights. But weren't there two of them the first time? Where was the second one?

Her question was answered as another pair of headlights right in front of her suddenly blinded her. She halted in midair, shielding her eyes from the blast of bright light when she felt something knock her in the stomach. The force of it blew her back several feet and when she regained herself, she moaned in pain as the two sets of headlights rested on her.

"What?" She heard a surprised man's voice say from one of the flying machines. She squinted up at him through the blinding light at the African American man with a white suit and black sunglasses on: The one that had just shot her in the stomach. "The scanners indicate that this is the same specter we picked up months ago." He exclaimed to the man in the second vehicle.

The second man in a white suit was Caucasian and had a beard. He looked over a screen on his own flying machine. "But _you're_ not Danny Phantom." He said to the girl, sounding confused. For the ectoplasmic-signature that showed on his screen was almost exactly like the ghost-hero's

At that moment, several flashes of green hit the aerial chasers, knocking The Guys in White away.

"Nope. _I_ am." Said a younger voice that Danielle instantly recognized.

"Danny?" She said in surprise, seeing her half-ghost cousin, floating only a few yards away with his fists glowing with the green energy of his ecto-plasmic ray.

Danny smiled at her in response as the glow in his hands faded and he flew up in front of her, shielding her from the white clad ghost-hunters that had managed to keep control of their Aerial Chasers and were once again facing the ghostly teenagers as the older one of them said, "But you guys have seriously got to get out more if you haven't even heard of the Dani Phantom with an 'I.'"

The Guys in White had completely flabbergasted looks on their faces now in seeing the two teens, floating in the air together, almost looking exactly alike aside from their genders and different design concepts in their jumpsuits. Operative O, the bearded agent, looked down at the spectral-radar screen in front of him again. "But…your signature isn't even showing up on our scanners." He said, looking back up at the boy.

Danny folded his arms with a laugh. "Boy. My parents aren't as dumb as you think." He said in a cocky tone. He didn't say this, but secretly, he had a little device in the white belt of his jumpsuit that his parents had made for him. It scrambled his signature in ghost-hunter's scanners, making them think that he wasn't there at all. Only his parent's scanners worked on him because of this device and they only needed to use them on him whenever he got lost.

The Guys in White looked at each other for a second before turning back to the ghost-boy who continued to hover in front of his little cousin. Operative K now spoke as if just realizing something. "No wonder we haven't even gotten any warning notices from our sponsors. It wasn't _you_ we picked up on our scanners those several months ago, it was _her_. You probably didn't even know we were still in business."

Danny let out another laugh. "Oho. Trust me. I already knew, _long_ before you attacked Danielle here." Danny projected angrily, indicating the young ghost-girl who was floating just behind him, rubbing her shoulder where she still felt pain. "Why do you think my family and I moved? To see the sights? I knew you'd still be trying to waste me even after the entire ghost-zone came out to help save Earth."

"Perhaps." Operative K stated. "But why would all of the ghosts in that world want to help you in the first place if you weren't secretly on their side?" Just as he finished saying this, he fired beams of blue energy at Danny who successfully dodged by splitting himself into three and having the beams pass right between two of them while the third quickly pushed Danielle out of the way.

After the beams had passed, the two forward Danny's fired green beams of their own at the airborne vehicles, sending them spinning out of control once again. As the drivers fought to regain control, the three Danny duplicates merged back into one and turned to Danielle. "Dani, run! Or…fly…or…just…get out of here!" He stammered at first, but at least getting the point across.

Danielle didn't move. "But…" she started to argue.

"Now!" Danny yelled, turning her around and pushing her in Amity Park's direction as the Guys in White were starting to close in again. "Get back to Fenton Works and I'll take care of these guys."

Then he turned towards the ghost-hunters and as he flew off towards them, Danielle slowly started to float backwards in the direction of Amity Park, still looking at the ghost hero in concern before turning invisible.

The Guys in White started to fire there anti-ghost weapons at Danny who expertly maneuvered out of the way of each beam that came at him before he zoomed right between them at a high speed. The two vehicles turned around to follow and another chase was on: This time, for the correct target. They stayed right on his tail, keeping him within range of their lights. They couldn't lose. If they did, they wouldn't be able to pick him up on their scanners and who knew if they would be able to find him at all again.

The chase led further down, towards the canopy of the woods. Danny rolled over in the air as he flew and fired a series of plasma rays at the vehicles. Ghost-shields activated on the Aerial Chasers, reflecting the energy back at Danny, who cried out in surprise as it barely missed him.

Danny didn't dare to turn invisible to escape. It was clear that their scanners couldn't pinpoint him, but they could pinpoint Danielle. If they lost sight of their intended target, they would probably go after her again to make up for the loss. But as the two agent's vehicle s were starting to catch up with him, Danny was starting to get nervous about if he really would be able to fight them off. Every time he ran into these guys they seemed to always have more updated equipment and who knew what kind of gadgets they were able to get in the two years he had been able to avoid them.

But he got an idea. Unexpectedly, the ghost-boy stopped in mid-flight and the Guys in White tried to speed to their own halt as they accidentally zoomed right passed Danny. Danny made a dive towards the trees below, where he would be able to take better cover. But as his pursuers were slowing down, Operative K took a gun-like device from his jacket and shot it at the teenage ghost. A net made out of strings of blue energy came at Danny and before he could move out of the way of this one, he was caught in it.

Danny cried out as the net sent a painful jolt through him that suddenly made him lose touch with his powers. He felt himself begin to fall as his ability to fly became useless. Just as Danielle had done before him, he plummeted through the tops of the trees of the forest below. The Guys in White followed, determined not to lose sight of their target this time.

Danny's fall wasn't nearly as far as Danielle's was when the government ghost-hunting agency ambushed her, but he hit the forest floor hard, nonetheless. Danny moaned, getting to his hands and knees, still under the ghost-catching net and looked up as he saw the Aerial Chasers land their drivers a few yards in front of him. They dismounted their flying vehicles and took out dangerous looking devices, pointing them at the trapped teenager.

Danny glared at both of them under the net as they approached, and he tried to break free of it. But the jolt that it had sent through him before, seemed to cancel out his ghost-energy. He could keep his Phantom form, but he couldn't do anything else with his powers. It was like being in Freakshow's ghost trap again.

"You'll be coming with us now, Phantom." Operative O remarked.

"We have some research that we need some assistance with." Operative K added, with a rather evil smile creeping across his face. "And you are the one who can provide it."

"No!" A young and desperate sounding voice just blurted out. The two agents looked around, confused at who had made such a distressful sound until they saw the girl version of Danny Phantom suddenly fade out of invisibility, landing a short distance away from her look-alike. "Don't hurt him." She beseeched.

Danny looked up at his young clone, wondering what on earth she was still doing here. "Danielle, I told you to get back to the house." He said to her from under his entanglement in an urgent whisper as she stepped forward, ignoring him.

Danielle took a deep breath as if about to dare something she never thought she would. "If you want experiments…" She began before swallowing very hard "…Do them on me."

"What?' The Guys in White and Danny all replied in unison and disbelief.

"Danielle, what are you doing?" Danny demanded, in a desperate whisper, though it was certainly becoming obvious. And it was starting to scare him.

The Guys in White looked at the girl suspiciously as if thinking that this must be some sort of trick. Operative K was the one who finally replied. "Why would we want to substitute the ghost-hybrid we've been hunting for years for any other ghost?"

"Because…" Danielle began. Danny saw a flash of fear enter her eyes as she just stood there for a second. Then, as he had feared, but was surprised all the same, she did it. She changed back her human form. "I'm a hybrid too." She confirmed with the revealing of her human self.

Both the white suited men's eyes popped at what they had just witnesses. "_Another_, ghost-hybrid?" Operative K said, in utter bewilderment.

"Where the heck are these kids getting their powers from?" Operative O whispered to his partner, who simply shrugged in response.

Danielle was clearly frightened of what she was doing, but she stated bravely, "If you leave him alone, I'll come quietly."

In hearing this, Danny immediately objected from under the Guys in White's net. "Dani, no. That's suicide! They'll destroy you!"

"What else am I good for, Danny?" Danielle said quietly so that only he could hear. She looked down at the ground, choking back more tears. "The only thing I've ever been…that I ever _will_ be…is an experiment."

As soon as this last hurtful word was said, Danny felt that sinking feeling again that had, by now, grown so deep it started to hurt inside. In fact, he could have sworn he was on the verge of his own tears as he saw all hope and will, leave the young girl's face completely. "Dani…" he said quietly, with his concern and sorrow for the heartbroken clone growing even more. "You're so much more than that, and you know it."

"Only to you, Danny." Danielle said, looking down at him, through the net as her tears once again escaped her eyes and began to stream down her cheeks. "Only to you."

Then she started to slowly walk forward, towards The Guys in White. "No. Dani, please." Danny begged as his clone strode passed him.

The Guys in White just stood there as if considering her for a moment. When she held out her wrists in surrender, they nodded to each other and Operative O put his weapon away, that he had been pointing at the trapped ghost hero, taking out a pair of spectral-cuffs. Just like the ones Freakshow had stolen from them to use on Danny.

The teenage boy desperately struggled to burst out of the net again as the Guys in White snapped the cuffs on both of the poor girl's wrists. Danny had been able to break out of every other net he was ever trapped in, but not this one. In this web of anti-spectral cords that these men had upgraded, he could only watch as his cousin was turning herself in to take his place as an experimental subject that she had always feared she would become again.

The bearded operative took both of Danielle's now cuffed wrists and locked them together, as the familiar, binding blue stand of electric energy, flashed into appearance between the two cuffs. Then he turned her around to face his partner as the African American agent reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a smaller, cylindrical device. Neither of the ghost-hybrids recognized it, but Danielle started looking at it in dread of what the man might be planning to do with it.

"What is that?" Danny demanded fearfully when he saw it, as well as his little cousin's terrified, and yet hopeless expression when _she_ did.

The white-suited agent smiled. "Just an extra precaution." He said before moving it towards Danielle's neck. Danielle cringed in fright and once the device made contact with her skin, it made a hissing noise as she felt the end of the gadget sting her. Then she suddenly faded into unconscious.

Danny gasped when this happened and Operative O caught her from behind as she was beginning to collapse. The Caucasian agent, smiled evilly at Danny as he picked up the frail girl's seemingly lifeless form and set her in font of him as he straddled his Aerial-Chaser. Holding the girl steady against him with one arm, the white clothed agent used his free hand to power up the flying machine, which then started to rise into the air.

Operative K. turned to the boy who watched helplessly from his hands and knees under the net as his little cousin was being taken away. "If you guys hurt her…" Danny started to say warningly to the African American agent who just laughed at this vocal threat.

"You'll what? Report us to your little _mayor_ friend?" He asked, mockingly, shaking his head. "Even the government has lost track of us by now. They won't even be able to find us. And we won't need any additional funding now that we have everything we need." Now Danny's own dread was starting to rise as he saw Operative K take the sedative he had just used on Danielle. "But just in case you're already starting to get ideas, we can't take any risk with you possibly following us."

Danny felt his own dread start to build, for both himself and his younger cousin who was about to be subject to a terrible fate, as he looked at the device the white-clothed man was approaching him with. Danny couldn't do anything to fight against it as the ghost-hunter used it on him the same way he had Danielle. The young boy cried out a bit in feeling a sharp sting it gave off as it made the hissing sound. An instant later, he felt himself grow weaker under the net and he collapsed to the ground entirely as his vision, as well as even his frailest hopes, went dark.

_**I thought this would be a lot shorter when I finished the first draft. But even if the ending result was going to be at least half this size I think I would still post it with it ending like this. Besides. Blackjay thought this was a good way to end the chapter. I hope you enjoy what's happened. **_

_**Hi! This is younger sister Blackjay who has unexpectedly taken over the keyboard with her fiendishly mad skills. (unknown by her older sister) A few words for you. NO DUH, I LIKED IT! INTENSE BEYOND ALL REASON! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Of coarse with her being my sister **__**I**__** know what's gonna happen next (haha! I know what's gonna happen! I know whats gonna happen! … And you don't) ehem…and I can tell you it is TOTALLY worth reading. And not to mention, I think it's a good way to end a chapter because in MY story half of the chapters end with someone passing out, therefore as we like to joke, his mind going black/a deep shade of aquamarine…or magenta…with silver polka dots…hehe…is a good end for her chapter. (I mention it cuz she was asking me about it) and now my random possession of the keyboard must end ^-^ Now I must evilly post it without permission! (And my evilly added out of nowhere addition to the authors note)^^ …bye! **_


	22. Solemn Hour

_**I know the title of this one was probably used about a million times in other stories, but it just fit the best for this chapter. But anyway, what's happened to Danny after Operative K injected him, making him pass out? What's going to happen to Danielle, and will Sam still have her doubts about her? Find out in these next few updates. Here's chapter 22. Please enjoy.**_

**Chapter 22: Solemn Hour**

Danny's eyes slowly fluttered open as he heard voices coming from off to the side. Before his mind fully woke up with him, his vision was unfocused and he felt a bit off-balance. Where was he? How did he get here? What happened?

He felt that he was laying on his back and his head was resting on something soft. The teenage boy moaned, rubbing his head in just noticing the massive headache he had. Once his vision cleared more, he looked at his hand, seeing that it didn't have the white glove he always had while he was in his ghost form. He was Danny Fenton now. He put his hand down and found himself staring up at a metallic ceiling.

He had had many instances like this in waking up in someone's ghost experimentation lab. He sighed in annoyance at it happening again once again, until he saw Jazz's head suddenly came into his view.

"Hey, everyone. He's waking up." She called when she noticed her little brother becoming conscious. At this moment Danny finally was able to look around with more awareness. He was indeed in a lab, but in a much safer one. He was laying in a cot in the Emergency Op Center that was relocated in the new Fenton Works lab.

Danny slowly sat up as his parents crowded around him, looking relieved that he was awake. "What happened?" He asked.

"We were just about to ask _you_ that, son." Jack said, now looking a bit concerned at him.

"When you and Danielle didn't come home from the dance last night, we went looking for you, and found you caught in a net thing in the middle of the woods." His mother explained. It was obvious that she was still surprised in finding him in such a state.

But as soon as she had mentioned Danielle's name, Danny's memory started flooding back. "Oh my gosh." He said in realization of what he was remembering. Now he understood how he got in this position. Danielle had run away from home and he had gone after her when the Guys in White attacked them. Danny wasn't the one in some ghost-hunter's lab, _she_ was. "Danielle. She's in trouble. We've got to help her." He said urgently, swinging his feet off the cot and onto the floor.

"Oh. So it wasn't _Danielle_ who did this to you?" Jazz said, looking relieved.

Danny's eyes widened at her. "What?" He replied, completely flabbergasted that his own sister would even suggest such a thing. "Of course not. Why would Danielle have…?" He suddenly stopped when he caught sight of Sam, who was standing a few paces behind the Fentons. That was when he remembered the argument with her that had taken place just last night: The argument that led to Danielle running off in the first place. And there was Sam standing there as if trying to look innocent.

Danny glared at her from his place on the cot and looked between her, his parents, and his college-enrolled sister. Sam had just been talking with his family about what she was trying to convince Danny of. He could tell. Why else would Jazz have asked him if it was his their cousin that had attacked him?

"Sam." Danny said angrily, through gritted teeth and standing up. "What have you telling them?" He emphasized almost every word.

"Don't worry. She hasn't told us anything we believe." Danny's father said, folding his arms, but also looking at Sam with a 'told-you-so' look.

"Don't worry?" Danny burst out, turning back to Jack. "The Guys in White have captured Dani, Sam's thinking _she_ was the one who knocked me out and you're telling me not to worry?"

"Wait, wait, wait. Back up." Danny's mother said, holding her hands out to calm him. "The Guys in White?"

"They're still at work?" Jazz asked.

"Yes." Danny said, extending his hands out as if surprised they didn't get this before. "And they took Danielle." At this news, Danny's parents and sister exchanged surprised and terrified looks before Maddie stepped forward.

"Calm down, Danny. Just tell us what happened." She said, though still looking worried at what she was about to hear.

Danny felt his own fear for his cousin start to build as he remembered with exact precision what had happened. He took a deep breath before he began his explanation. "Dani and I were flying over the woods when the Guys in White appeared. They were the ones who caught me in that net and they were just about to take me back to their base to start doing experiments on me." Danny paused for a second not sure how the others were going to react when he told them what happened next. He looked down at the floor, regretfully, but slowly went on anyway. "Then…Danielle came in and made a deal with them to…to take my place."

His family just stared at him for a while in disbelief at what they had just heard Danny say. Now they really _did_ seem worried.

"She just…volunteered?" Jazz asked, looking a bit anxious, but trying to act more sympathetic for her troubled little brother.

Danny didn't answer, but that was when Jack started putting in his own question anyway. "But Danny, what were you to doing out in the woods in the first place?" He inquired of his son, looking a bit confused, but astonished at just being informed of what had happened to his adopted niece all the same.

At his father's question, Danny shot a very dark look at Sam. She was standing behind her friend as if trying to contemplate what he had just said. At least until she noticed the look Danny was giving her.

"What?' She asked, raising her hands defensively and trying to look innocent again. She turned to the other Fentons, trying to explain herself how she had never meant any harm. "I was just expressing my concerns to Danny after the ecto-puses attacked." Now she turned back to her half-ghost friend. "You saw how she was stalling so much during that battle."

Danny's temper rose once again at Sam's ignorance and he took a few steps toward her. "The only thing I saw, Sam, was the look Danielle gave me after you insulted her!" The other Fentons looked at their youngest member in bewilderment that he would be treating his friend like this. But he and Sam just continued to argue as if they had forgotten that they weren't the only ones in the room.

Sam went on, though with a flash of intimidation at Danny's attitude in her eyes. "Danny, what real proof do you have that she really has turned away from Vlad?"

"The last time she was here, Vlad nearly destroyed her!"

Silence. For a long and dragging moment. Sam and Danny's family exchanged looks again before turning back to Danny as if waiting for him to explain a bit further. Danny looked around at them all and exhaled heavily, and with frustration. Rubbed his head, he was really hoping he wouldn't have to repeat this story. But it seemed that he had no other choice if he was going to help his friend to fully understand. "Have you noticed that Dani hasn't had any problems keeping herself stable since she's been here?" He asked, more to Sam, but directing it to everyone else as well. He said this much more calmly this time, though he himself still felt on the peek if Sam made another objecting comment.

Danny's father was the one who spoke next. "You know, that's actually crossed _my_ mind a few times since you two explained how you met."

Danny took a deep breath before saying anything further. His voice was a bit harsh despite his efforts to keep it down. "After that first battle we had with Vlad together, Dani had been growing so weak, she could barely keep her form together. And she came back here to ask me for help." He saw Sam looking off to the side as if in thought before he went on. "Unfortunately, that was during the time that Vlad was still in office. And as soon as he found out she had returned, he came after her so he could continue his cloning research."

Sam folded her arms in skepticism. "And how exactly do you know this? Did _she_ tell you?"

Danny clenched his fists. That did it. Sam had officially pushed him over the edge and the sudden elevation of his tone proved it as he and spun to face her. "I WAS _THERE_, SAM!" He shouted, scaring her and everyone else in the room. "I _SAW_ IT, AS HE WAS MELTING HER DOWN, RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES!"

Stunned silence filled the room again. Only this time, what Danny had said seemed to finally hit the one who had the least understanding of the situation. This wasn't just an experience Danielle had just told Danny about to get him to trust her. Danny had witnessed it himself. He was living proof that Vlad was the one who had betrayed his own creation first before she had switched to Danny's side.

Danny's breath came slow and heavily now. In noticing Sam's new comprehensive expression, Danny finally withdrew from her, continuing. "And the way she was screaming as that was happening…" His sentence trailed off and he pressed the heels of his hands to his closed eyes as the echoes of Danielle's suffering cries filled his recalling mind. His relaying of the story was bringing back the memory of that time as if it had only happened a few hours ago and it was starting to get to him. He slowly walked over to the front window of the Op Center where he could see the inside of the Fenton Work's lab where the alien-looking Op Center was now. He went on, but now with much more remorse in his voice. "Mom and Dad may have once _threatened_ to tear me apart molecule-by-molecule, but Danielle really was." The teenage boy hung his head and folded his arms, thinking back on that experience in Vlad's lab that he could only imagine must have been ten times as worse for Danielle. "Had Valerie and I not been there to save her…she would have been gone for good."

Sam and the Fentons could think of nothing to say as Danny put a hand over his eyes, trying to block out the memory he had finally finished reliving for the sake of the understanding of his peers.

Danny's mother was the first one who finally spoke, quietly, and with more realization of her own. "No wonder she was always avoiding _our_ lab."

"Yeah." Jazz added. "Danielle said that it brought back memories she didn't want, but she never said of what."

"It's not exactly the fondest memory for _either_ of us to look back on." Danny said. "That's why I didn't tell you before." He turned back to his peers, with a solemn look. "But it still haunts Danielle. And the very possibility that Vlad just might come back is constantly giving her nightmares."

The others looked at him solemnly as his mind now started to trail back to the events that had unfolded last night. "You should have seen her face as the Guys in White were taking her away." He started again. "She was scared to death. And she still turned herself over to them…to protect _me_."

Danny's father came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find her, son. In fact we'll get to work on it right now."

Danny just looked down at the floor and quietly started walking towards the exit of the Op Center.

"Where are you going?" Danny's mother asked, looking a bit worried.

"My room." Danny simply replied as he left the room, leaving everyone staring after him in silence before Mr. and Mrs. Fenton started getting to work on the controls to do as they had promised.

Sam watched from the window as Danny was crossing the floor of the lab to the doorway that led to the stairs.

The young Goth started to hear footsteps coming up behind her. She turned, seeing it was Jazz, and she was giving her a stern look. "Now Sam, do you really think Danielle would still be on _Vlad's_ side after he had put her through something like _that_?" she asked her, folding her arms as if waiting for a confession.

Sam, out of ignorance, just returned the look to Jazz, not saying a word before she too headed out of the Op Center. She caught up with Danny, who was just in the upstairs hall, where his bedroom was located. "Danny, wait." She called after him.

In hearing her, the hybrid boy had stopped, just as he had put his hand on the handle of his door. "What now, Sam?" He asked, not even looking at her. "I suppose since it's now impossible that Danielle's working with Vlad, she could be working with the Guys in White. That she knows where I live, could tell them, and that they'll be at my doorstep at any minute."

"No…I wasn't going to…" Sam began to say, trying to find the right words. She had now caught up with him and stood perhaps only three feet behind him as she talked. "Danny I…what you said just now and…what I had said last night, I…I'm really sorry."

"Oh, I forgive you, Sam. Really." Danny said, now facing her and saying this with a trace of angered sarcasm still in his voice. "But who you really need to apologize to is the _other_ Danny who's feelings you _have_ hurt." He opened the door to his room and stepped inside, before finishing with, "Assuming you can find her in time before The Guys in White tear her apart." Then he slammed the door behind him, startling Sam.

She just stood there, staring at the door behind where Danny had just disappeared, feeling guiltier by the minute. After he had just told her and the others his story, how could she have even questioned Danielle's trust? Who was she to do that anyway? Sam was never around her as much as Danny had been: Especially lately. And she had done so much more good than the minor hints of evil Sam just had to emphasize. How could she have been so stupid not to see that a long time ago? She may have been a Goth and always finding fault in the world, but she, of all people, should have realized that she shouldn't be judging people by their background or by appearance.

Even after such a frightful incident that was painful for even Danny to talk about, Danielle had still willingly given herself up to save him from having to go through what she had already hoped she would never have to go through again. No one working for Vlad, or anyone else who was an enemy of Danny's, would have even _considered_ such a noble act.

And now Danny was mad at her for being so stubborn and he had to tell her about something that he was probably trying to forget about: even more so, Danielle, who was perhaps being forced to relive such an awful nightmare right now. All because of her.

000000

Meanwhile, Danny had his ear pressed against the door he had just slammed in his friends face, listening intently, and solemnly for what was happing outside. A few moments went by and he didn't even hear Sam move. There was only the sound of booted footsteps heading back through the hall and down the stairs after he started to hear the soft gasps of Sam beginning to cry.

Danny felt his own guilt starting to build as he put his back against the door and slid down to the floor with a very heavy sigh. He and Sam may have had arguments before, but none of them had ever ended with Sam walking away crying. He couldn't help but feel that he was being a bit too harsh with Sam. She was his friend. She had a right to be concerned about him, especially when it came to subjects that had anything to do with Vlad. It was _Danny_ who should have given her and the others the full story from the start instead of holding back on some of it just because he and Danielle didn't like telling it. Even to each other. Sam wouldn't have doubted her otherwise. They wouldn't have had that fight that she had overheard, and she wouldn't have sped off, heartbroken and feeling so rejected. Leading her into the fix she was in now.

But it was already too late. The damage had been done to more than one person, and in more than one way. Danny felt a strangely noticeable jolt in his stomach as he thought of how Danielle was probably being strapped down to some examination table, if she hadn't been already, being put through some kind of torture by the Guys in White. He curled up against the locked door, clutching his head in his hands as he almost started to hear her screaming again.

He couldn't let anything happen to her. He had to find her. And soon.

_**I know this chapter is a whole lot shorter than most of the others I've done, but I just couldn't think of a better way to end it. I still need some help with chapter 18 though. I wonder if it's worth keeping or if it just needs a bit more editing. Please let me know what you think by reviewing it. **_


	23. Time Will Tell

_**(Disclaimer: Butch Hartman owns the show, Danny Phantom, from Nickelodeon and all of it's original characters.) **_

_**In this chapter, we get to see another one of my favorite ghostly characters from the show. I won't say much more because I want you guys to find out for yourselves. The search is on in chapter 23. **_

**Chapter 23: Time Will Tell **

Danny never thought that his first couple of days of Summer Vacation could be so nerve-wracking. He had gone back to the woods several times to see if he could find any trails leading to where The Guys in White may have taken Danielle from where Operative K had left the young ghost-boy unconscious in the net. But anything he thought might help always led to a dead end.

In addition, every time he went there, he kept getting feelings of uneasiness, and despair. This was where he had last seen Danielle. This was where he watched, as she was being cuffed and dragged away. And the last thing she said to him: That there was no other purpose for her existence.

Once in a while, flashes of the two operatives hurting her in some way kept going through his mind. Sometimes, when that happened he could have sworn that she was screaming from some unseen location and he could only imagine the pain she was going through. He especially got these short visions while he was in the woods. Eventually, it got to the point where he just couldn't stand it and withdrew himself from looking there any longer.

The search continued and by now, Tucker had been informed of Danielle's kidnapping. He had helped to organize some private investigation teams to track The Guys in White. They had not been lying when they had told Danny that even their sponsors had lost sight of their whereabouts. The investigators had gone to examine several outside locations where men in white suits had been sighted. But it turned out that those men, even if they were the right ones, had just been on investigations of their own to find the new Fenton residence.

Mr. Gray had also gotten some people at Axion Labs to help with tracking the government ghost hunters, Out of courtesy of Valerie, whom Danny had secretly informed as well. However, the combined efforts of all of these organizations didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Their technology in addition to the Fentons could not find the location of the lost cousin of Danny Phantom. No traces at all could be found of where the white-clad ghost-hunting agency could be keeping her.

As more time passed with no additional leads found, Danny was starting to lose hope. Most of the time, he was detained from searching because of ghost attacks he had to tend to. Though Danielle was missing, the ghosts didn't multiply the way they had when there were no Phantoms at all in town to protect the city. But even then, there had been several times that Danny's lack of focus caused near misses that would get him into serious trouble. It was incredibly lucky that Sam and Jazz were there to help him out of those jams.

Danny and his close peers weren't the only ones saddened by Danielle's' absence. There were a few citizens who expressed their disappointment to Danny that his cousin was no longer around. One evening in particular, while he was just out on patrol with Sam, who was riding on her electric scooter to get around today, the little boy Andrew and his mother had come up to him. The same people Danny recognized from the mall after coming back from his incident with Freakshow.

After some friendly greetings, the mother asked, "Where's your cousin nowadays? I haven't seen her around for a while."

"Oh…um…" Danny stammered, looking to Sam for help, but she was just looking a bit awkward. She hadn't met this woman or her son before. "She's… gone away for a while." Danny eventually resorted to saying. The news of Danielle's capture had actually been kept from The Press to prevent citywide panic that would more than likely attract more ghosts again.

"Aw. How come?" Andrew asked, looking a bit disappointed. A _Danny Phantom_ action figure was hanging out of his pocket and one that looked like Danielle was held in his little hands.

Behind the teenage ghost-hero, Sam looked down at the handlebars of her scooter as if in regret. Danny knelt down on one knee in front of the small boy, trying to think of how to say this. "Well… before she came here, she liked to travel a lot." Danny replied, trying not to sound like he was holding back in certain facts. "She was just helping me out for a while."

"But wasn't she living with you now, or something?" The mother asked. She held her son's hand as he talked to the hero he admired.

"For a while, yes." Danny said, looking up at the woman while still on one knee. "But she was really only planning on staying to help me with the time that we had that massive ghost invasion." This was actually true. Had Danny not suggested that Danielle live with the Fentons, she would probably have been gone by the time she was rested up from that hard day.

"Oh. Pity." Andrew's mother responded. "It was quite exciting to see the two of you in action together."

Andrew nodded vigorously in agreement. "Yeah. That was really cool how she was flying all over the place. And she scared those ghosts away from mommy." He started illustrating the action with his toys. Though that experience had been several months ago, Andrew seemed to remember exactly how it went. He continued on explaining how much he liked how the two Phantoms had gotten rid of the ghosts that had been chasing him and his mother from the mall.

Danny, Sam and the boy's mother couldn't help but laugh at least a little at the child's enthusiasm as he ran in circles around Danny, making flying sound effects as he pretended that his two action-figures were zooming around, saving the day.

But it wasn't long before Andrew eventually stopped and he looked at Danny again, with a look that saddened both the teenage hybrid and his Gothic friend. "When will she be back?" The little boy asked his hero innocently.

Danny didn't answer for a while before he said, truthfully, "I don't really know."

Andrew looked down disappointedly looking at his Dani Phantom toy. "I miss her. She was nice."

Danny nodded in agreement, though still feeling a bit gloomy. "I miss her too."

That meeting may have ended with the woman and her son walking away with friendly parting words, but Danny and Sam waved goodbye to them, feeling worse that he had since Danielle had run away. Andrew was only one of many disappointed fans of the ghost-girl's that they both had talked to. If Danielle had realized how much especially the little girls had come to admire her, perhaps she wouldn't have felt so unwanted.

The two teenagers continued down the street to continue their route. Once in a while they glanced at each other regretfully. They had talked this over several times before, but Danny couldn't help but think that if he and Sam hadn't had that argument at the dance, this wouldn't have happened.

As Danny was thinking this over, he suddenly stopped in mid-flight. For a second and for some odd reason he felt numb. At the same time, another flash of something happening to Danielle flew passed his vision.

Sam halted on her scooter, looking behind her to see that Danny had stopped. "What's wrong?" She asked, looking concerned.

"Oh, nothing." Danny quickly responded when he realized he had stopped. "I was just thinking of something that Danielle might be going through right now." He said honestly as he hovered a few feet above the road.

"But that's not the first time that's happened. Why'd you stop like that?"

Danny just shrugged not really understanding himself. "I don't know." He admitted, sinking down to the concrete as Sam approached him on her scooter. "I guess…I've just been getting so worried about her." He admitted. "I sometimes wish I could go back and change that fight we had."

Sam let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah. Me too." A moment of solemn silence passed. "Danny I really am sorry for starting that." She said, taking his hand. "If there was one thing Clockwork would let us change in the past, that would be it."

Danny smiled in reassurance of his forgiveness and gave Sam's hand a gentle squeeze. "I had actually thought of Clockwork a few times too." He responded as they started walking together, hand in hand.

Clockwork, formally known as The Master of Time was a very wise specter who had the ability to see, as well as interact with, events in the past, present, or future: Hence the name. He knew everything that would happen no matter what turns certain events took. Once, he had helped Danny to escape an alternate timeline that would have led him, his whole family, and quite a few others to a terrible future.

But every time Danny considered going to ask Clockwork for help in the current situation he was in, he had remembered another time where he had tried to change the past to help his friends in another life-threatening situation. He had learned from that experience that changing the past could only make a matter worse. It was lucky that this time-manipulating ghost also had the power to reset the event to before Danny had tried to change it. And in just taking a view of that event again, he was able to solve the problem anyway.

"Wait a minute." Danny said quietly, making the both of them stop again, when an idea started to form in his head. "We might not be able to change the past, but maybe Clockwork can help in some other way."

Sam looked at him, perplexed. "Like what?"

"If just a window to the _view_ of the past helped to solve a problem in the present, then maybe something like that can help us with this one."

Sam thought on this for a moment. "You think?" she inquired.

"It's worth a shot, right?" Danny shrugged in suggestion. But then he remembered something. "Oh…" He moaned, looking up and down the street. "But I'm in the middle of patrolling right now, I can't just…"

Sam put a hand on his chest, smiling. "You can go, Danny. I'll just call up Valerie or Jazz to help finish the route."

Danny was a bit taken aback by the sudden offer at first. But then he smiled at his friend in thanks. Sam gave him a kiss on the cheek before riding off on her scooter. Danny watched in gratitude as she turned a corner out of sight and lightly touched his check where she had left the kiss. Then, he took off for the underground Fenton Works.

He used a teleportation pad that was hidden in a nearby alley to get down to the house and he headed straight for the lab, where his parents had long constructed a new ghost portal to the ghost-zone.

"Where do you think you're going, mister?" Mr. Fenton asked Danny through a microphone, from the Op Center. Jack and his wife had been working in there when they saw Danny open the ghost-portal from the window.

Danny responded through an intercom on the wall near the portal. "I'm just going to see if I can ask an old friend for help."

"In the ghost-zone?" His mother asked, confused but with a hint of nervousness.

Danny scoffed with a smile. "Don't worry, mom. I'll be fine. I should be back soon." He reassured.

After he saw his parents exchange thoughtful looks, through the Op Center's window, they nodded at him. "Just be careful. Okay, honey." Maddie requested.

Danny smiled up at her in response before shutting off the intercom and flying through the portal. She was always getting concerned whenever he went into the ghost-zone: especially by himself. Neither of Danny's parents had ever been inside (though Danny found that ironic since they were the ones who built the portal in the first place) but Maddie knew that it could be dangerous.

Danny zoomed through the spacious and eerie green world. He remembered how creeped out he was when he had first set foot…or rather…flight, in this place. It was like being in space, only the sky was green and cloudy all the time and you could actually breathe here. All of the places where the ghosts lived were floating around like asteroids or lone planets. Not to mention there were a lot of ghosts he could run into if he wasn't careful. It was the world that all of the ghosts came from. It was their territory: their entire universe.

But Danny had gotten to know it pretty well in all the times he had ventured here with his friends, and knew the safest routes through it. There was nothing for his parents to worry about. He just hoped that Clockwork wouldn't mind him dropping in. But with all the failed attempts everyone else had had, this was getting close to being his last hope. And Danielle's. He had to at least ask.

Before long, he reached the area he was looking for. Clockwork's home was a huge, castle-like clock tower with a look that would remind anyone of a mystical, horror movie with its dark green color and the many spikes around it. A few scythes that had skulls on them extended up from the turrets like flags. Huge gears floated around the clock tower and an echoing ticking of several clocks could be heard even at quite a distance away.

Danny arrived at the door of the tower and it creaked loudly as he pushed it open. "Hello!" Danny called once he was inside. "Clockwork?" No answer.

It was just as uncanny inside the tower as it was outside. There was a very long and jagged staircase that led up to the top of the tower where the sage of a ghost was always spending his time. The overall look of this tower was still a bit creepy to Danny, but knowing the ghost who resided in it helped to counteract that.

Danny followed the stairs by flight, until he reached an opening to the topmost room of the tower. It was a rather dark room with now light at all coming in from the very huge window. The window was actually also the face of the giant clock that could bee seen outside. There were perhaps thousands of gigantic gears in the ceiling, working the giant clock.

"Ah. Danny Phantom. The teenage ghost-hero of both our worlds." A wise sounding voice echoed through the room. Danny turned towards the center of the spacious chamber, where a ghost with a purple hooded cloak hovered above the floor, facing a flat, circular image that waved and distorted the image of the event that was being viewed. There was a smaller window next to it that looked the same, but was reflecting a different image than the large one. These windows emitted the only source of light that anyone would be able to properly see by.

Danny slowly made his accent to the floor a distance away from the hooded specter, which turned around to face him as he landed.

The Master of Time had a purple tunic under his hooded cape and his hands had gray gloves with several watches on top of them. He had a black belt that had a pocket-watch hanging from it and on his chest was a rectangular, glass covering that protected another clock that was actually lodged inside his own body. Clockwork's skin was a pale blue and his eyes were completely red, having a long, lightning-shaped scar across it. Though these red eyes were the same kind that Vlad Masters had while in his ghost form, these ones always reflected a much more friendly nature. The sage carried a long staff that had another clock on the end that was framed with two spiky shapes. It was this staff that he mainly used to channel his power to alter time.

But what was really intriguing about this ghost was the way he was always fading randomly from his strong, adult appearance, to an elderly, bearded and hunched over old man and sometimes fading into an appearance of a chubby little infant. Danny, kept forgetting that he was always doing that. It was really beyond the ghost's control. Danny wondered if Clockwork even noticed anymore whenever these changes happened.

"It's been a long time." Clockwork said as he suddenly took on his future representation of himself in the appearance of the old man.

"Yeah. Hasn't it." Danny said in greeting, but he hurried to get to the purpose of his visit. "Listen. Clockwork? I need your help."

"Help I'm afraid I won't be able to provide you with." Clockwork instantly remarked, turning away.

"No. Not to alter the past again. I was just hoping you'd help me to find someone." Clockwork remained silent and his currently wrinkled and bearded face was unreadable, so Danny went on. "It's my cousin. Danielle."

"Yes. The clone created by Vlad Plasmius who's been living with you for the past few months." Clockwork said, suddenly fading into the young infant appearance. (His staff shrunk with him to the size of a toy.) Then he turned towards the giant, clock-face window folding his now petite arms. "I knew you'd be coming to ask me this. And I'm sorry to say again that I cannot give you the assistance you seek."

"Clockwork, I just want you to open a window so I can see where she is." Danny said. At this moment, he suddenly felt a just noticeable and unexpected jolt inside him that he couldn't understand.

"I know it's only a view you want." The sage said, continuing his gaze out the window. "But it's not that I _won't_ help, Danny Phantom." Danny noticed from the reflection in the window that the infant form of the Master of Time was looking solemn. "It's that I can't."

"What?" Danny responded a bit confused as well as astonished by the answer. "Why?"

"I've tried several times to open my time windows to foresee the exact thing you wish to find." Clockwork said, taking on his appearance that reflected the present. (His staff size change back as well.) He faced the teenage boy. "I saw as she gave herself up to the ghost-hunters. But soon after they made you go unconscious, they disappeared beyond my sight." When Danny just stared at him, in disappointed surprise, the purple-cloaked ghost explained a bit further. "The Guys in White have become very clever with their anti-spectral technology. They seem to have been able to create some sort of cloaking that they perhaps don't even realize is so powerful, I can no longer monitor them with my time windows."

Danny sighed heavily, looking down as his hopes began to drop. "So you can't even see inside the place where they're keeping her?" Clockwork shook his hooded head sadly. "Not even to see…if…she's okay?"

"No." Clockwork said after a sad pause, shaking his head again. "I'm sorry Danny. If I knew where she was, I would show you. That, I promise."

Great. The one thing The Master of Time would be willing to help him with, he couldn't. Danny looked despairingly at the circular image that he noticed was a view of his parents still at work in the Op Center back home. "Then how am I supposed to find her, now?" He asked the sage as he felt him floating up behind him. "How do I know if…she's even still alive?" Danny clenched his fists as another fast vision of Danielle receiving a painful shock zoomed through his mind.

"Danny. If she was really gone, I'm sure you would know." Clockwork said, putting a hand on the saddened teenager's shoulder. Danny noticed from the hand that it had become thin and bony. He had shifted to his elderly appearance again.

He looked up at him, with a confused look at what the now tall and bearded ghost just said. How could he possibly know if Danielle had been destroyed if he wasn't even…? "Wait." Danny said aloud and in consideration. "Those feelings I've been getting. And those flashes in my head." Clockwork grinned as the realization was starting to occur to the half-ghost teen. "I thought that was just me worrying so much, but…" Danny put a hand over his chest. "That's really her, isn't it?" He asked in affirmation. "I'm actually _sensing_ whenever she's getting hurt."

"She was made from your DNA, young Phantom." Clock work stated, removing his hand from the boy's shoulder. "Perhaps, improperly at the beginning because of a lack of the right pieces, but it still has made her a part of you."

"So you're saying that she and I…we have some kind of connection?" Danny asked.

Clockwork nodded, taking on his present day appearance. "It's grown stronger since she started living with your family. You just didn't notice it before because you were usually already witnessing whatever was happening to her during the battles you've fought together." Danny looked back at the view of his parents, taking in this information.

Just then his hand suddenly shot to his shoulder in feeling a particularly surprising and sharp jolt. "You feel her now, don't you?" Clockwork said, when he noticed this abrupt action.

"It's been getting more and more devastating." Danny said, rubbing his shoulder as if trying to brush off the fake pain.

"She's felt them too." The cloaked ghost said, fading into the infant form. "When you were set in the ring of Blood Blossoms, she was riding on your dog friend and she felt it happening when she had almost arrived at the train."

Danny shuddered in remembering how he felt being in that Blood Blossoms circle Freakshow had put him in. To think that Danielle had also felt at least an inkling of what that felt like. It must have been such a surprise to her that she nearly fell off of Wulf.

Hold on a second… Danny's mind backtracked. "Oh, of course." He said, slapping himself on the head for being such an idiot. Why didn't he think of it before?

Clockwork's, currently baby-face, smiled, knowing what idea was now forming in the young boy's head.

Danny looked up at the short little sage that floated above the level of his head, making up for the sudden loss of height. "I don't think I ever thanked you for helping me out so much." The teenage hybrid commented. Clockwork simply shrugged his little shoulders as if it was no big deal.

Danny never realized this until he was older, but Clockwork seemed to always want Danny to figure things out for himself. He just gave him a few hints along the way if he needed them. That was definitely how he helped Danny to avoid disaster the first time he encountered him.

Danny heard a strange noise from somewhere else in the room. He and the baby Clockwork looked in that direction to see two identical ghosts who had unexpectedly appeared in the large chamber. Both had white robes, lined with a magnificently designed, yellow border. The draped sleeves protruded green and bony hands with long, sharp fingernails. They both wore long, black, vampire-like capes and instead of heads, there was a protective, green dome that sheltered a single, bright green and very large, eyeball that floated in the center.

"The Observants?' Danny said in confusion, recognizing the large Cyclops eyes in an instant.

One of the identical ghosts stared at Danny for a second with his large eye before it looked at the cloaked specter next to him. "We didn't expect you would have company, Clockwork."

"He was just leaving." The sage said, turning into the elderly form of himself, but folding his arms as if annoyed in seeing the two all-seeing specters in his tower.

Thought his was true, Danny's curiosity kept him where he was. "What are they doing here?" He asked the temporarily bearded and hunched over Master of Time.

"They've been coming to see me on a regular basis about your cousin lately." The sage ghost responded, giving The Observants another irritated look.

"And what would _you_ be doing here, boy?" The second twin ghost said to Danny with a deeper tone than the first. "To alter another event in the past? Perhaps a contest you lost? An embarrassing moment? Or perhaps that time the clone-girl overheard the conversation you had with your girlfriend."

Danny didn't like how the Observant had referred to Danielle as the "clone-girl," but he ignored it. The Observants were basically judges and peacemakers of the ghost zone. There was only one other time that they came to see Clockwork and that was during a very critical time: One that involved Danny, greatly. The ghost-hybrid turned back to Clockwork, getting a bit nervous. "What's going on?" He asked. "What _about_ Danielle?"

Clockwork looked off in a corner of the room, passed where the circular windows were located. Danny followed his gaze until his own sight rested on a Fenton Thermos that stood on a flat rock and covered with some sort of energy field.

Danny had long known the significance of this Thermos. And it wasn't a good thing at all. In just looking at it, he was starting to get worried in what this conversation was leading up to. "No." He whispered, turning back to Clockwork with his anxiety steadily growing. "You're not saying that…?" He trailed off indicating the Thermos.

Clockwork sighed, looking at the boy very sternly as he faded into his strong, middle-aged form. "There have been several important lessons you have learned since obtaining your ghost-powers, young one." He began in answering the ghost hero. "Lessons that your clone has yet to even dream of encountering." Danny remained silent as the sage went on, but his unease was growing with every word he said. "She will soon be faced with a choice that will determine the course of her entire future. Possibly even yours." Then, as if Clockwork's voice and expression couldn't become any graver, it somehow did as he gave his final warning. "And if you don't find her soon…let's just say that in one way or another…your friend's suspicions about her will be confirmed. Permanently."

Danny stood rooted to the spot for a long moment, as the full realization of what Clockwork was saying hit him at full force. Looking at the Thermos that the cloaked ghost had had in his possession for some time now, he felt his newly found hope was beginning to be replaced with fear of what might soon happen. Of what might soon become of Danielle, as well as others. Something he himself was barely able to escape in time.

Danny suddenly hurried out of the room by flight and Clockwork watched from the huge window as the young ghost flew away through the eerie green space of the ghost-zone, back to his own world.

"What were you saying to him, Clockwork?" The first Observant said after Danny had passed out of sight.

"Him finding her is the very thing that will result in the future he is in fear of." The second Observant followed.

"It may. And it may not." The Master of Time put in. "That will be the girl's choice."

"But you have already foreseen the choice." The first Observant countered. Staring at the sage specter with his one gigantic eye that looked quite up-hauled by what he had just witnessed him doing.

"I have." Clockwork admitted, turning into the old version of himself again. He turned back to his time window, using his staff to change the view to further watch the recently left teenage ghost.

He had seen the choice Danielle will soon make. But he had also seen how much she still cared for Danny, even after she had attacked him when he was trying to stop her from leaving Amity Park. That's why she had surrendered herself to the Guys in White. The decision she would soon be faced with will still be entirely her own. But if anyone can help her before it was too late, it was the only one left in both worlds that she completely trusted. And him alone.

_**Okay. Those of you who have seen the episode **__**The Ultimate Enemy**__**, I'm sure you already have an idea of what this is leading up to. I don't know about you guys, but Blackjay says that she's getting really excited about how this is turning out. I hope you guys are looking forward to the next installment I have in mind. **_


	24. Out of the Pot, Into the Fire

**Chapter 24: Out of the Pot, Into the Fire**

Danny flew through the spacious world of the ghost-zone, anxious to get home as soon as possible. While his path to the Fenton Ghost Portal was fairly straight, the young boy's mind was spinning in circles at what Clockwork had just said to him. Was he supposed to be glad that he now had a way to find Danielle, or worried that something terrible would happen if he didn't get to her in time? Both thoughts were making him fly faster all the same.

The conversation he just had with the Master of Time kept playing in his head and the memories it brought back were beginning to scare him: especially the last part.

A few years ago, before Danielle's creation, Danny had come across Clockwork when he was about to make a horrible mistake: A simple little choice that would have led him on a path that turned him into the most evil ghost in both worlds. It was only when he had actually met and fought this older and evil version of himself that he was able to turn things around. Danny was able to defeat him after learning his ghostly wail, which he had ironically picked up from that ghost, but the whole experience was one he hoped he would never have to repeat. That Fenton Thermos back in Clockwork's tower contained that very ghost Danny would have turned into had he decided to make the wrong decision.

But what could possibly get Danielle to return to the life she had after she was made? She had already chosen to part ways with Vlad a long time ago. And the last time Danny saw her, she looked far from wanting to turn against the one who helped her to see the light. It was much more like she had lost all her will to live: That there was no further purpose for her existence than to die as a lab experiment. Danny felt himself get crushed inside at the very thought and caught himself before he was starting to tear up.

This probably wasn't the best time to worry about that. Since that visit with Clockwork, Danny now had a plan to find the young clone. And he planned on putting it into action the minute he got back to his own world.

Danny finally got through the Ghost Portal and back in the Fenton Work's lab. By now, it was getting pretty dark, but his parents were still working in the Op Center. He barely spared a minute to tell them to be prepared to receive word to call the police before turning intangible and flying through the ceiling to the next floor. He headed straight for the transport chamber where he would be teleported directly to Sam's house.

Sam was the one who answered the door when he knocked on it rapidly. "How did it go with Clockwork?" She asked in a hurry before Danny could express his surprised that she was still wide awake.

"Well, the time-window thing didn't even work, but I think I've found another way we can find her." He said.

Before five minutes had passed, Danny was flying across town, carrying Sam to City Hall where they would pick up Tucker. They glided straight through the ghost-shield that recognized the ghost hero's ecto-signature and he phased inside the white and currently quieted building.

He and Sam found Tucker sleeping in a grand suite on a king-sized, four poster bed, snoring loudly. "Hey, Tucker." Danny whispered as soon as he and Sam had phased through the door. When Tucker didn't respond, he and Sam further approached the bed.

"Tucker." Sam now said in a singsong voice.

"Tuck." Danny repeated, a little louder and tried to shake him awake. Tucker just snorted and turned in his sleep.

"Mayor Foley." He and Sam said in unison and, starting to get impatient. Tucker just snored on, muttering something inaudible.

Danny groaned in frustration, looking at Sam who just smiling mischievously. Danny nodded at her, returning the smile and getting the hint. He held his hand out, generating a blue glow from it. A clump of snow materialized in the air and started hovering right above Tucker's head. Then it suddenly plopped on his face.

The teenage mayor instantly bolted upright in his bed from the sudden blast of cold. "Dah! What the…" He exclaimed in surprise, wiping his now wet face with his blanket and looking around angrily through unfocused vision.

"About time." Sam said, putting her hands on her hips as if in disapproval but she just couldn't help but grin in amusement. Tucker retrieved his glasses from a nightstand next to the huge bed. As soon as he put them on, he saw her and Danny standing there with grins on their faces.

Tucker looked at the clock that was on his nightstand. "Guys, it's nearly midnight." He said, infuriated. He gave a particularly irritated look to Danny. "And that wasn't funny." He grabbed his pillow, shaking the snow off of it and slammed the still dry side over his head, wrapping the corners around his ears as any sleepyhead would when they were frustrated about being woken up so suddenly and wanted to go back to sleep.

Danny simply folded his arms shaking his head at the way Tucker was being so ignorant. But he had a way of getting his attention. "I think I know where Danielle is." He simply stated.

He was right. As soon as he said this, Tucker removed his pillow and pushed himself up with his hands, looking at Danny with a wide-eyed expression. "Where?" he asked, looking anxious to know.

"The Woods of Lake Eerie." Danny responded.

There was a rather awkward pause after Danny had said this. Tucker looked at Sam who simply shrugged and shook her head in confusion. The mayor turned back to his half-ghost friend. "But, Danny you've already checked the woods. And the investigators have combed the place themselves." He said, getting out of the bed and heading over to a computer to double-check the results of that search.

"Yeah, but those same investigators still haven't figured out how that ghost-shield reversal thing happened when Lydia attacked this place and kidnapped you." Danny specified.

"Hmm. That's a good point." Sam admitted for Tucker, after a second of thought. "But what makes you think the Guys in White have been in the woods this whole time?"

Tucker turned from his computer remaining seated at his desk chair as Danny explained what Clockwork had said to him about the apparent connection he had with Danielle. That the feelings and flashes the young hero had been having in her absence weren't just his paranoid imagination. They were real. They were short visions of what was really happening to her every time she was in pain. And they got stronger while he was in the woods, not because that was the last place he saw her, but because that was where she still was.

Tucker and Sam were looking at him in disbelief by the time he finished. "So you think you can use this connection to find her?" Tucker asked, after taking in what Danny had just explained.

Danny shook his head. "I don't think it's strong enough for me to actually pinpoint her location. Even if I could, it would probably take forever and we don't have that kind of time on our hands." Sam and Tucker looked at each other for a second before he went on. "However, there's someone currently living in those woods who _can_ help us track her exact location." He turned to Tucker. "Can you pull up a 3D map of the woods?"

The let out a short laugh. "You're talking to a techno-geek who's helped you track ghosts for years. I could do it even if I was still sleeping." The teenage mayor turned back to his computer and easily activated a holographic projection of the woods on the desk.

On Danny's instruction, he zoomed in on the image and it started viewing the woods in a bit more detail. Danny bent down on one knee so he could examine it at eye level, looking for a certain place he thought he would recognize. Sam looked over Danny's shoulder in wonder of what he was looking for.

"There." Danny suddenly said, pointing at the hologram at an image that looked like a rocky mountain with a cave opening half way up. A large waterfall was pouring beside it. "Wulf's Cave." Danny said. "Danielle described it to me once. That's gotta be it."

"Your gonna ask _Wulf_ for help? Does he even know?" Tucker said, looking up from the hologram with a bit of a confused look. Sam was doing the same thing, wondering where this was going.

Danny explained himself when he saw the question in their faces. "Danielle said that he's how she found _us_ after Freakshow took us all captive. Dad said that we have almost identical ecto-signatures since she's a clone of me. She thinks that we also smell the same to Wulf because all he had to do was sniff her to pick up my scent at the old Fenton Works and follow it to the train."

As Danny was explaining this, his two friends were starting to get ecstatic looks of realization on their faces. "Oh, so you think it can work the other way around?" Sam asked, beaming at the brilliance of the half-ghost teen.

Danny smiled in confirmation and Tucker bolted up from his chair. "Well, what are we waiting for?" He said, hurrying inside his closet (which was as big as a root-cellar) coming back out in less than a minute, fully changed from his pajamas to his usual outfit of a yellow shirt, baggy pants, boots and putting on his favorite red beret. "Let's find your cousin." He said with a smile, picking up his trusty PDA and handy backpack. Sam went over and stood next to Tucker, looking just as prepared to help as he was.

Danny smiled at his two friends in appreciation. It was just like old times. He and his closest friends sneaking out at night, helping each other to find ghosts and keep their hometown safe.

Less than an hour later, with the help of Tucker's PDA, they found the cave that they thought might be Wulf's new home. "Wulf?" Danny called into the cave as soon as he landed inside. He didn't see or hear anything that even resembled the giant beast he had as a friend, as he ignited his hand with a green charge of his ecto energy.

Danny led the way into the nearby tunnel that he hoped would lead to where he would find his sought-out friend. He, Sam and Tucker called out Wulf's name as they stepped inside a dome-shaped cavern. He wasn't there. But from the green glow coming from Danny's hand, he could make out a sight that took his breath away. Sam's and Tucker's too, as soon as they had a glance inside.

"Holy cow." Danny finally managed to say aloud as he observed the etchings on the walls of events he recognized. "We're definitely in the right cave. This must be the archive Dani told me about." He raised his glowing hand to further observe the carvings and ran the fingers of his other hand along the curved wall. "She said it was huge, but…" His sentence trailed off when he found himself speechless.

"She tells you _everything_, doesn't she?" Sam inquired, as Tucker started taking a closer look at the walls himself. "You guys must be really close." Danny turned towards her when he detected sadness in her voice. She sighed looking down at her feet. "Had I known what kind of bond you two shared, I don't think I'd have even dared to say those things about her."

Danny walked over to his friend and put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, smiling in reassurance. "You don't have to keep beating yourself up about that." He said.

Sam smiled a little and put her own hand on top of his in acceptance of his understanding. But she still looked quite sorrowful. "Do you think she'll forgive me?" She asked.

"We'll have to worry about that when we actually find her." The teen ghost said, starting to sound more serious. "And we can't do that unless we find Wulf…Who doesn't seem to be here at the moment." He added this last part as he took one last look around before heading back through the tunnel. He was starting to sense Danielle in pain again and his anxiety to get to her was growing stronger.

Danny was starting to contemplate where Wulf could possibly be at this time of the night as he reached the end of the tunnel. But luckily, he didn't have to think any further as soon as his friends had followed him out because the hairy ghost had just climbed into the cave. As soon as the great dog saw the three teenagers, his tail started to wag and he rushed at Danny, pouncing him to the stone floor of the cave, wildly licking his face, like he did back at the cabin after he had rescued him from Freakshow. They hadn't seen each other since then and it was obvious how much the beast had missed his half ghost friend.

Though the sight was amusing, this was a matter of urgency. Once they got the dog's full attention, the three teenagers all relayed their story about Danielle's abduction and how they needed his help. Wulf growled in vengeance once he learned how the same forces he had saved the girl from before had hunted her down once again. Within the next moment, all four of them were heading to the place where Danny witnessed his cousin giving herself up to the ghost-hunters.

Once they arrived at the right place, Danny let Wulf sniff his hand and the scruffy black beast began exploring around the area with his nose moving across the ground.

Sam watched, getting a little nervous as the seconds rolled by. She may have jumped when the idea was first presented, but now she was starting to have doubts on its tru success. "Danny are you sure this can work in the reverse order? What if that was just a lucky break because you were the only ghost who hangs around the old Fenton Works?"

"The "Boo"-merang even got our ecto-signatures confused, Sam. I'm _positive_ it'll work." Danny reassured. But then, he said in a quieter tone to himself, "It's how _fast_ he'll be able to do it that I'm worried about." As Wulf continued to sniff around, Danny's thoughts wandered back to the final warning Clockwork had given him.

Wulf's nose eventually led him to scaling a tall, nearby tree. He was nearly to the top when he leapt to another one, digging his claws in the thick trunk to keep himself aloft from the ground, and continuing to sniff for the scent he was trying to match. The three teenagers watched nervously as he did this a few more times. Before long, the great dog's ears suddenly perked up and his tail was wagging madly. He leapt back down to the ground and started pointing off in a certain direction, speaking in Esperanto.

Tucker beamed and relayed the message. "He's found the trail."

Danny sighed in relief at the news, but he knew that they still had a ways to go before their objective was achieved.

Wulf invited Tucker and Sam to ride on his back and Danny flew behind the beast as he led the way through the woods at a very fast pace. Once in a while the dog would climb another tree to get another whiff of the airborne trail the Guys in White had unknowingly left behind when they had taken Danielle into their custody.

Danny followed closely. His feeling growing with the knowledge that he was getting closer to his lost cousin. Though he still couldn't contemplate how Danielle could possibly become evil from being in the captivity of ghost hunters, he hoped it wouldn't be too late by the time they got to her. He was beginning to feel as if Danielle's presence inside him was growing weak.

Soon, all four had arrived at a clearing and Wulf stopped at the edge of the trees, sniffing around more cautiously now. There was nothing visible there, but Wulf seemed to be wanting to hold back, staying in the cover of the trees. Tucker took out his PDA, retrieved a few additional gadgets from his backpack and wired them to his hand held before analyzing the screen. "There's definitely something there." He said. "It's faint, even with these attachments, but I'm picking up technological interference…and some spectral activity."

"Danielle." Danny whispered. Then he asked Tucker, "Can you override the cloaking, somehow? To make the structure visible?"

Tucker bit his lower lip, "Maybe." He responded and began pressing buttons. "That could be tricky without a direct link to the controls." He continued to work, concentrating on the screen of his PDA. Sometimes he would hold it out at arm's length as if trying to get something to activate. It took several attempts that failed with Tucker shaking his head in disappointment when finally in pressing the 'enter' button for perhaps the fourteenth time, a tall, white, metallic, dome-shaped building that filled almost the entire clearing, flickered into visibility.

"Yes." All three teenage friends said in unison at the triumph.

"I'll see if I can find and deactivate any security alarms before we go in." Tucker said, looking more confident now and getting to work on his PDA yet again. In the meantime, Danny called up his parents, who were still up despite the late hour. He informed them of the location of the Guys in White and they hung up with their reassurance that they would be there soon with the police. They would be able to find the location with the tracer that only made Danny detectible to the Fenton scanners.

Wulf was reluctant to stay outside, but he did so with instructions to wait until the other Fentons arrived. He was too big to be able to move freely around the building without giving away their position in some way anyway, even while invisible and he couldn't really help much if he stayed intangible the whole time as well.

Danny, Sam and Tucker moved in, carefully avoiding any traps that would set off an alarm with Tucker's help and bypassing a ghost-shield with Danny simply temporarily changing into his human form to go straight through. Apparently, with something like that protecting the building, Wulf wouldn't be able to go in until the police got here anyway.

They made it inside, turning invisible and cautiously exploring the first room of the dome-shaped base. This particular room had the walls lined with all kinds of controls. Danny noticed some kind of radar screen in particular that had his picture on it. He smiled in seeing that it wasn't detecting that he was right in the center of the room. There were several people monitoring it and the other controls that were all wearing armor with helmets that made Danny think of some kind of spacesuit.

So, the Guys in White still had their own employees. They just liked going out to hunt certain ghosts themselves. Well, at least unlike Vlad, who _paid_ to have a lot of other people doing his dirty work for him, Operatives K and O were a little more hands-on with their work. But that little fact didn't make Danny hate them any less for kidnapping his cousin, doing who knows what with her.

Danny carried his two friends, quietly phasing through the door to a circular room that had doors leading to other places in the building. One of which, Operatives K and O just came out of, completely unaware that that they were passing their number one ghost-target and his two "meddling" friends.

"I swear she's getting more stubborn with each method we use." Operative K was saying to his partner, putting a cap on a test-vial he was carrying that had a bright green liquid in it. "If this keeps up, we may not have a hybrid to experiment on anymore."

"Yes, but with the right methods, I'm sure she'll come to see who the real _boss_ is in this building." Operative O reassured as they walked into the control room together.

Danny didn't like the sound of what they had just said. Still invisible, he turned intangible and carried his friends through the door he had just seen the Guys in White come out of.

As soon as they were inside, he noticed that no one was in there, and he landed himself and his friends on the tiled floor, turning visible again. He looked frantically around the room for a second. So did Tucker and Sam, who were looking about as concerned at what they had just overheard the Guys in White say as he was.

This room looked like any other ghost research lab Danny had ever been in with the standard research equipment and containment-chambers to hold the experimental subjects in. It's just that the basic style of this equipment was white with blue screens and lights. These were practically the Guys in White's theme colors. Up towards the wall to their left was a metal, vertical panel that was suspended about six inches from the floor. Strapped to it by her wrists and ankles, looking so weak, she was barely conscious, and to Danny's horror in seeing her like so, was Danielle.

"Oh my gosh." Danny said as he rushed over to her. Memories of that time in Vlad's lab were repeating all over again. This was exactly the way that cruel man had her restrained as he was melting her down. That wasn't happening to her now, but as Danny got to her, he noticed that she was still in the worst state he had ever seen her: almost lifeless and bruised all over her face, which reflecting such hopelessness and despair, it was like the very feelings were being emitted straight to Danny's heart.

Tucker sped to the controls with his handheld devices to see if he could hack into them and unlock Danielle from the panel. Sam looked over Tucker's shoulder watching as Danny tried to wake his cousin up. She was elevated from the floor enough that Danny had to hover up to her before he could reach the height she was at and shake her shoulders a bit. "Dani. Dani, wake up." He said with concern. She kept her eyes shut and she suddenly tensed up as if preparing to resist something. The boy removed his hands a bit confused at her reaction. He pull her chin up so he could get a better look at the condition of her face when she suddenly jerked it away from him, breathing heavily. Danny felt himself grow heavy inside when this happened and he sank to the floor. What had these men been putting her through?

"Danielle, I'm not gonna hurt you. It's me." He said, trying to reassure her as he cupped her cheek in one of his white-gloved hands, more gently this time. "It's Danny."

His soft touch, in comparison to the hard and forceful way the Guys in White must have treated her, seemed to help with the assurance. Danny felt her relax a bit and she let him turn her face back in his direction, though her eyes were still closed. He put his other hand under her chin and carefully lifted her face up so she could get a better look that it wasn't her enemy trying to wake her for further experimentation.

She moaned weakly and her eyelids started to flutter a bit. She looked almost scared to do it at first. Probably thinking it might be a trick, but she eventually opened her eyes. At first, they seemed unfocused but when they noticed Danny, her awareness returned.

"Danny?" She said, looking at her cousin as if confused to see him standing right in front of her. The quiet tone in her voice emphasized her weariness. "You're here?"

Danny exhaled, taken aback by the question. "Well, of course I'm here. Where else would I be besides looking for you after they took you away?" He said to her, sinking down to the floor.

Danielle seemed to regain more of her strength in seeing him again, but she started looking around a bit fearfully. "Danny, you can't be here. If someone catches you…"

"I just got here Danielle, and I'm _not_ going to leave you with these poachers. End of story." Danny interrupted defiantly and he bent down to try and pry the medal restraints off her ankles himself. Tucker was apparently having trouble in getting them off the technological way.

"How did you get here anyway?" Danielle asked, after Danny's own attempt to free her failed.

"The same way you found me back with Freakshow." He simply answered, turning to Tucker and Sam to check their progress in deactivating the cuffs that bound his poor cousin to the panel on the wall.

"Freakshow." Danielle said with a hint of frightful realization creeping into the way she said the name. Danny looked back at her in catching the tone of her voice. "Danny, that jail break." She said. "And that ghost-shield reversal thing at City Hall. It _was_ an inside job, like the investigators thought. And the…AAH!" Her sentence was suddenly cut off with a short scream of pain. An electrifying surge that came from the medal cuffs that bound her had just went through her whole figure.

"Tucker, be careful." Danny said in concern, turning to his friend. He didn't even notice that he had almost felt the pain from the surge himself.

"It wasn't me, dude, I promise." Tucker said, raising his free hand defensively. "I haven't even reached the mainframe yet."

In response to this, a cold voice came from the direction of the door behind them. "And you never will."

Danny and his friends spun around with chills running down all of their spines in seeing Operative K and Operative O standing in the now open doorway to the lab. Operative K was holding a remote-like device that must have been the cause of the painful jolt Danielle had just received.

"We're not sure how you got passed the outer defenses or even how you kids found our base, but we made sure those control panels were completely techno-geek proof. You're not hacking into that, Mayor Foley, for the life of you." At least twenty men in the weird suits started filing into the room from behind them, charging weapons and surrounding the intrusive teenagers as Operative K added, folding his arms, "Or in this case, any of your hybrid ghost friends."

The two Phantoms and their two teenage associates already knew they were in trouble as soon as he saw the Guys in White, but Tucker couldn't help but nervously say the one word that confirmed it.

"Busted." He said with a gulp.

_**Uh Oh. Okay, so they found Danielle, but as Tucker just said, they're busted. I was going to make it longer, but I thought this was a good place to end it.**_


	25. The Ultimate Choice

**Chapter 25: The Ultimate Choice**

As the Guys in White's henchmen surrounded the three caught teenagers, Danny saw Operative O take out a different weapon he had never seen before. The suited agent loaded it with a transparent tube that had a blood-red liquid inside. Danielle was looking at it frightfully.

"Danny, be careful. That new weapon of theirs has…Ah!" Before she could finish her sentence, she let out another shriek of pain and Danny gasped in concern, as well as from the faint jolt he felt go through his own figure. Operative K had pressed the button on the remote that shocked her again.

"Sheesh." He commented. Not lowering the remote. "First we can't get her to talk at all, and then she starts talking too much." Danielle glared up at the African-American agent hatefully after recovering from the sudden shock from the cuffs on her wrists and ankles.

Danny looked between the bound clone and the two white suited operatives. "What have you guys been doing to her?" He demanded in angered disbelief of the Guys in White.

Operative O explained as he finished loading the unfamiliar looking weapon. "Despite her willingness to take your place, she didn't seem to want to cooperate with us on anything else. So we had to resort to more persuasive measures. But she still refuses to tell us how she got her powers no matter what method we've been using."

Danny stood there for a second gaping at what they were telling him. All this time, he thought only Vlad Plasmius could ever be that cruel. "So you've just been plain torturing her for the information?" Danny responded in incredulity. "She's a fifteen-year-old girl."

Operative O didn't seem to be fazed by this little bit of information. He just looked behind the boy hybrid to where Danielle was suspended limply on the wall. "Yes. It is a shame that such a pretty little thing had to be contaminated with ghostly DNA. Something we plan to cure you both of." The bearded agent said then looking back down at Danny with a bit of a smirk. "We were hoping Freakshow would be able to do it for us, but…"

"Wait a minute." Sam interrupted. "Do it _for_ you? So it was _you_ guys who broke Freakshow out of jail? Not Lydia?"

"That was an accident." Operative K replied with a shrug. "We went to the penitentiary to see if Freakshow would be willing to give us some information about certain anti-ghost elements to try and deal with the ghost-boy. Things just got a bit out of hand. But when we saw that it got the famed ghost hero's attention, we decided to just let him work."

Tucker now took a step forward, looking angered. "And the ghost-shield reversal? _You_ were the inside-job on that." He said, pointing at the agents in accusation.

Operative O just smiled, confirming Tucker's theory before he spoke again. "Even though we wanted to do some research first, we thought it would be a good idea for Freakshow to get rid of the Phantom punk _for_ us, so we wouldn't have to risk getting into trouble with our sponsors. But he was apparently thrown back in jail before he could get the job done."

Sam folded her arms in strong disapproval. "Don't worry. You'll be joining him there soon for those kinds of underhanded tricks."

"Yeah." Tucker agreed, also folding his arms, but with more of a bragging look. "In fact, the police also know where you guys are hiding and are on their way here right now."

"Tucker." Danny whispered urgently, nudging him in the arm to get him to stop talking.

But none of the members of the ghost-hunting agency seemed shaken by the thought of the police coming at all. "You think we didn't already suspect that when you tried to hack into our controls, little mayor." Operative O said to Tucker, specifically. "We'll be gone long before they even get here." He then looked at Danny, raising his strange weapon. "And so will you, Phantom."

Danny heard Danielle gasp behind him before he quickly lunged himself at Sam and Tucker. "Duck!" He shouted, as he pushed them down to the floor with him and covering them just before several beams from anti-spectral weapons suddenly flew above their heads. Danny only lifted his head up when he heard Danielle suddenly shriek in fright. He turned his head in her direction to see that a few singe marks were now on the medal panel that she was pinned to. Some of the blasts had nearly hit her.

Before everyone's sudden panic of nearly getting shot had settled down, Danny got up and started blasting the armored men away, specifically aiming for the weapons.

Danielle saw Operative O raise the red-fuelled weapon once again and pointing it at Danny while he was being distracted. "Danny, look out!" She shouted.

The ghost boy looked in the operative's direction and jumped out of the way just in time before a narrow, red, laser-beam hit him. The white-clad agents growled in frustration and Operative K took out the torturing remote again, pointing it at Danielle. "You know, I think I preferred you not talking at all." He said.

Danielle shut her eyes tightly, bracing herself for what she knew she was about to feel. Before Operative K pressed the shock button, Danny sent a bright green beam from his palm that knocked the remote out of Operative K's hands. Before it even hit the floor, the young hero used an additional blast to completely destroy it.

"Don't _ever_ do that again." Danny threatened the two agents as the green charges in his hands faded.

The Guys in White only returned the glare before Operative O pointed the new weapon at Danny again. "Then how about this?" He responded. Several shots came at Danny all at once, not only from Operative O's weapon, but also from all of their armored associates.

The ghost boy would have simply turned intangible, but he felt it safer to just get out of the way of all the blasts in case that didn't work. Especially with the red beams, since Danielle was specifically afraid of him getting hit by one of those. Tucker and Sam tried to help Danny out with some Fenton wrist rays that they had with them, but they were most effective against ghosts. The most they could do with those was force the armored men back a bit.

When Danny felt like he was starting to get overpowered, he split himself into five beings and shot plasma rays at all of the armored men at once. A few of the duplicates started hovering around the lab equipment and would dodge out of the way of the enemy's blasts, making them hit some of the research materials instead. The Guys in White gave Danny a deadly look when they saw that he successfully beat back their employees and destroyed half of their lab as well.

All five of the Danny's just shrugged with a mocking smile at them. "What? I was outnumbered." All of the duplicates said in unison before merging back into one. Then the completed Danny said, "I just thought I'd even it out a bit."

Operative K's hand shot to his wrist, where he pressed a few buttons on a panel he was wearing as a sort of watch. At his command, several metal panels on the walls opened, revealing robotic weapons that pointed at the still airborne Danny. This came as a bit of a surprise to the teenage ghost. He barely dodged in time of some of the blasts before going intangible and heading straight at the closest wall to attempt a sneak-attack. But he couldn't phase. He hit the wall with a hard thud and fell to the floor.

As he was starting to get up, wondering why he couldn't go through the wall, he heard the high-pitched hum of certain weapons preparing to fire. He quickly looked up, seeing that Operative O was about to shoot him with the red-fuelled weapon. Danny was still a bit dazed from hitting the wall. He tried to move out of the way, but not in time to suddenly feel a burning sting on his right side that made him cry out. A shockingly familiar kind of prolonged pain that felt like with every beat of his heart, it pulsed deeper into his body.

"No!" Danielle cried out, as if in agony herself, (considering the connection they shared, it was very possible that she felt her cousin's pain.) The red beam coming from the gun, looked like it was pumping white beads of light, one after another, right into the teenage boy's body, causing him such agony within only a space of a few seconds before the agent finally let go of the trigger and the beam vanished.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker called in unison as they saw their friend collapse to his knees, gripping his side where he had just gotten hit.

The two white suited partners smiled in triumph, watching as Danny tried to stand up. "Sorry kid, but as soon as your little mayor friend tried to hack into our systems, a ghost-shield activated around this room."

That explained why Danny wasn't able to get through the wall, but even though the red beam had been let off, he felt like he was growing even weaker by the minute. Frightful memories entered his mind as he recognized this kind of pain that was slowly beginning to spread further through his form as if it was starting to eat away at him. "Wha…? What _is_ this?" He asked, still holding his side and leaning against the wall for support to try and get to his feet. He removed his hand from the place where it was hurting, discovering that there was green blood staining his white glove.

"Poison." Operative O said, blowing a stream of red vapor off the barrel of his weapon before lowering it. "Made from the pedals of a special anti-ghost remedy known as Blood Blossom."

Sam and Tucker gasped in fright and exchanged worried looks in hearing the name of the familiar floral substance.

"Freakshow was the one who told us about them before he broke out of the penitentiary." Operative K reported, as Danny's two friends rushed to his side. "We couldn't make it any stronger before you arrived, but I'd say your ghost half has about three hours: At the most.

"His _ghost_ half?" Tucker asked angrily. It sounded as if they thought his human half would live.

Danny set his back against the wall, holding his gloved hands over the deep wound that was left from the blast. So he only had hours left to live. But by the way the wound was burning him from the inside as well as the outside, it felt like it may as well be much shorter. No wonder Danielle wanted him to avoid it at all costs. But now what?

Suddenly, red lights in the room started flashing and an alarm started to blare loudly. An automated voice came from the control panel by where Danielle was pinned to the wall. "_Warning: experimental subject resisting. Increasing containment level_."

Everyone looked at Danielle who seemed to now be making her own effort to break free. The increasing of the containment level didn't seem to be any help. "_Containment level at maximum_." The computer said. "_Subject still overpowering confinement_._ Engaging back-up restraints_." At the computer's command, additional cuffs extended out of the metal panel and wrapped around the girl's knees, elbows, as well as around her neck and waist.

Danielle looked like she was panicking a bit when the extra restraints activated, but even though her movements were now limited even more, she continued to struggle, tensing her body and straining against her bonds.

Danny felt his heart thumping in his chest as he watched this in anxiety. Could she possibly break free on her own? Even though Tucker couldn't hack into the controls to release her would they even have to? Did she even try to break free before? Danny's friends stood on either side of him, watching with just as much apprehension as he was. The Guys in White looked like they were starting to get nervous and headed to the controls to monitor the procedures to keep the girl contained.

Danny noticed a few cracks starting to appear in the medal cuffs that bound his little cousin and a green glow from her hands and feet was starting to appear. "_Subject breaching restraints_." The computerized voice reported. "_Engaging emergency containment chamber_."

A curved, glasslike covering, came out of the wall and encased Danielle in half of a cylindrical chamber that then started pulsing with a blue light inside. It was clear that this made it much more difficult for Danielle, but she wasn't giving up. She was giving it her all to break free of her confinement. She let out a cry of effort as even the transparent cylinder was starting to crack. The lights in the lab started to flicker a bit and the controls were beginning to hiss with an emission of smoke. The alarm blared louder still and the Guys in White backed away, shielding their eyes as the controls started sparking uncontrollably.

"_Warning. System overload. Escape of experimental subject: eminent_." The computer's voice announced. Now the containment chamber was beginning to let off smoke and the Guys in White were looking scared: So where all of their employees who were just standing around, not sure of what to do.

Danielle felt her ghostly energy returning as the metallic restrains continued to give and with what power she had regained, she gathered as much as she could and let out a burst of energy that shattered her bonds and made the containment chamber completely self-destruct. Some of the controls did the same and the nearest ghost hunters, including the Guys in White, were thrown back several feet from the force of the blast.

Danny, Sam and Tucker, covered their heads as a few shards from the explosion rained down on them, even from this distance away. When everyone looked back up, thick smoke was rising from the place the containment chamber had been. People started squinting as if trying to see Danielle through the smoke and watched, waiting for something to happen.

Danny was starting to think that maybe Danielle didn't survive the blast, but he was getting a feeling that she was still there. The connection was just reassuring him of that.

A place in the smoke became disturbed as something beyond it finally moved. Everyone perked up as Danielle slowly walked out of the cloud of smoke, collapsing to the floor and rolling onto her back, coughing from the smoke until it started to settle.

The Guys in White got up quickly. Operative K took some kind of injecting tool out of the inside pocket of his jacket and hurried to where the young girl laid now motionless. This tool contained another liquid that could destroy any ghost almost instantly, but they only used it for lab emergencies like this.

"The concentrated injection?" Operative O inquired, looking a bit confused at his partner.

"She broke through every single method of containment we have." The African American operative said as he was making his way towards Danielle. "We have no choice but to put her down."

"No!" Danny cried out in desperate protest, trying to take a step forward, but his knees buckled beneath him and Tucker had to catch him before he fell all the way to the floor. "Guys, do something." He begged his friends in almost a whisper, as Tucker gently lowered him down to his knees, but they didn't know what to do either before it would be too late.

All three of the teens watched helplessly as the agent bent down over Danielle, ready to give her the lethal injection when her bright green eyes suddenly shot open, filled with a rage even Danny had never seen in her before. She grabbed the agent's gloved wrist that held the dose before he could give it to her and he grunted in pain as she used her ghost-enhanced strength to squeeze the man's wrist even tighter. A concentrated radiation of green ecto-plasmic energy started burning the gloved hand. To the agent's surprise, the tool in his hands seemed to completely disintegrate from the slow but powerful emission Danielle was giving off. She glared at him with a hatred so powerful as she sat up, still gripping tighter on the man's wrist until she suddenly grabbed his arm with both hands, lifted him up from the floor, swung him around once and threw him at Operative O, making them ram into each other and fall into a heap on the floor.

By this time, several of the armored men were getting up and had seen what had happened. They started pointing their weapons at Danielle, but she saw them do so and with a charging cry, she used her Plasma Rocket. The black white and green blur she became, shot around the room so fast, no one saw how she had grabbed all of their weapons at once and destroyed them all before knocking them back down to the floor. She even went around yanking all of the robotic weapons that were coming out of the walls.

Operative O had taken out the gun that shot the Blood Blossom poison again, but the girl's speed was so unmatchable, he didn't even know where to aim it before that weapon was suddenly grabbed from him as well. The next thing he knew, she was hovering above him with the Blood Blossom weapon in her hands. "How did you do that?" The bearded agent said, in complete astonishment. Operative K, got up, looking just as dumbfounded as his partner was when she answered in a deadly tone.

"Just because I have the same name and theme colors as Danny, doesn't mean we share all the same abilities." She said, igniting her hands that still held the weapon and it completely dissolved as she crushed it between her palms.

Danny, Tucker and Sam watched this wide-eyed as the remaining dust from the weapon fell from her gloved hands and into a small pile on the floor. Danny was also starting to feel a little uneasy. How could Danielle possibly have the strength to do the Plasma Rocket like that when he thought she had used all of her strength just to get out of her confinement? And she still looked strong enough to keep going. Which, she did.

"You also didn't know I could do _this_." She said as she did a forward flip in the air, charging her feet up. She landed on the floor, shooting the charges into two separate streams that ran along the tile until one stream of energy each hit a white suited man at the same exact time. The blast forced them back, towards the far wall. Everyone stood there with their mouths wide open in seeing the two huge crevices Danielle had made in the floor from the energy blasts from her feet.

Danielle zoomed up to both of the Guys in White, grabbing them both by the collars of their suits and slamming their backs forcefully against the wall. "That poison you just used on Danny." She spat in a threatening way. "There'd better be an antidote for it. And you'd better use it now!" She shouted this last sentence.

The Guys in White looked at her defiantly as if this was the most ridiculous question they had ever been asked. Operative K was the one who answered. "Why would we make an antidote? We're ghost-hunters, not doctors."

"Besides, kid, you're overreacting way too much. Blood Blossoms only work on ghosts. And he's only _half_ ghost" Operative O added.

"You idiots!" Danielle shouted as she suddenly threw both of them over her shoulder, tossing the full-grown men all the way across the room. Danny cringed as they hit the floor hard. Danielle hovered towards them with igniting fists as she continued to speak. "Just as the ghost-zone is bound to whatever happens in this world or vice versa, Danny's human half is dependant on the survival of the ghost. Destroying one half will kill the other! You've practically just murdered the entire world's hero!" She shot them with a plasma ray from her hands. They both tried to dodge, but even as they did, she came up behind them, grabbing them by the back of their suits and threw them to the floor again.

Danny, his friends, as well as everyone else in the room, stood rooted to the spot in both astonishment as well as growing fear at what they were witnessing. Danny hadn't seen Danielle do anything like this since after Vlad tried to destroy her for his own research. But as much as she hated Vlad, and completely clobbered him for trying to melt her down, Vlad was a ghost hybrid and could survive big hits like this. The Guys in White were completely human and not as able to withstand the kind of attacks she was pelting them with. Danielle's rage continued to drive her and she sent one blast after another on the Guys in White. Particularly Operative O who was the one who poisoned Danny.

Eventually she threw them both against the wall again, and generated a green sphere of energy in her hands that was actually hollow. As she released it from her palms, it grew to a size that was bigger than she was and it engulfed the two men in white suits.

Danny had seen this technique only once before. Vlad had used it on him, Tucker and Sam once when they were trying to chase him down and take back something he had stolen.

Danny's heart started pounding in his chest more rapidly and a chill ran down his back as he saw Danielle land in front of the sphere she had trapped the two men in. She extended out a hand and the sphere seemed to shrink, reducing the space they were already limited to inside, until they had to resort to bending down to their knees. Their suits were now tattered and torn and they were scrapped in several places from being thrown around so much. They looked up at Danielle who approached them, and even though they were wearing the dark glasses, you could easily tell that they were now fearful of what she was about to do next.

"And if he goes," Danielle was saying in a deadly whisper. "So will you." She clenched her fist and ignited a green charge that pulsated, as it grew brighter and more powerful looking. In the light of the charge, Danny could have sworn that he saw her eyes turning red. Like Vlad's eyes were in his ghost form…like the eyes of Danny's alternate and evil self that was lodged in Clockwork's tower.

This was what the sage had meant with his warning. This was the choice that would lead Danielle to a path of evil. She was about to kill the Guys in White. What she said next, confirmed Danny's very thought. "And I'll be the one who sends you on your way." She pulled back her ignited hand, facing her palm towards her target, preparing to land the killing blow of vengeance. And Danny saw, completely horrified as her eyes most certainly did start glowing with the blood-thirsty evil that was coming out.

"DANIELLE, NO!" Danny shouted.

The sound of his voice surprised even him as it almost echoed through the whole lab.

Danielle suddenly froze, just as she was about to release her energy. It was like the very sound of Danny's voice sparked something inside her. That she had completely forgotten anyone else was in the room until now.

"Danielle." Danny said, more quietly now, but his fear of what she was about to do still at its peak. "Don't you realize what you're doing?"

"Oh I know what I'm doing, Danny." Danielle shot back, not taking her eyes off her target and not lowering her charged hand. "You save the entire world, including these two lunatics from complete obliteration and they repay you by injecting you with liquidized Blood Blossoms. They deserve nothing else for what they've done to you."

Tucker and Sam knelt next to Danny as if this would help him or his girl clone. The Guys in White looked in the ghost boy's direction, looking a bit confused at why he was trying to stop his look-alike from unleashing her attack. "I understand your intentions, Danielle, but the methods you're using are leading you down a very…dangerous…path." Danny said, still on his knees and painfully holding his side where it was still bleeding badly. "And if you take another step in that direction, you'll never be able to turn back. Trust me, I know. I've been there. In fact I barely escaped it myself." Danielle's eyes still burned with a fire of hatred towards the men that had poisoned her cousin. Danny kept talking as if he thought it was the only thing keeping her from making the biggest mistake in her life. "Don't do something Vlad would be proud of."

He knew he had said the wrong thing as soon as he finished this sentence. "Why not?" Danielle demanded: Her expression hardening even more. "He created me, didn't he? I can be just as ruthless as he was." She pulled her palm back, preparing for that final attack she still was yet to unleash.

"But do you _want_ to be?" Danny said quickly before she was able to thrust her glowing fist forward. She halted her attack again and this time a few more wheels seemed to start turning in her head. Danny chose his words more carefully this time. "Dani, anyone can be the way Vlad was. That's a matter of choice. That was _his_ choice." She was silent after this. "Is this how you really want to be? A vengeful killer?"

An apprehensive pause came in which Danielle stood very still with her hand still glowing with the intended blast. Danny was starting to wonder if she was even really listening to what he was saying. But he went on, knowing that he had to at least keep trying while there was still a chance. "I know…Vlad…made you." He said very slowly. "But that doesn't mean you have to be like him. I _know_ you're not like him. You've _shown_ that. To me, as well as so many others countless times." Everyone stood in anxious silence watching the scene. They seem to be completely disregarding the fact that they were saying that this ghost girl was actually a creation of Vlad Plasmius. The current situation was what was on everyone's minds and they were wondering what was going to happen next. "Please." Danny whispered as if desperately begging. "Don't prove me wrong."

No one moved as Danny finished his statement as if it was the final request he would ever make in his life. The seconds dragged by in complete silence and Danielle still hadn't lowered her hand. The more time passed, the more Danny was starting to worry that his words might not have gotten through to her. He, as well as everyone else, waited. Watching. Hoping. This was the turning point of Danielle's entire future. If she decided to go through with this…Danny feared the worst. He felt Tucker and Sam grasp his shoulders in concern for his well-being as he remained on his knees, and also looking at Danielle as if in fear of what her final decision might end up being.

Though it was only less than a minute, it seemed like an eternity before the young clone seemed to relax her muscles. Danny noticed Danielle was starting to glance from her ignited fist to the Guys in White inside her confining field of energy. Her expression got a glint of confusion as if she was comprehending whether or not she should actually do the thing she had be so determined to do just a few minutes before. It was like the realization of what she was thinking of doing was starting to hit her. Her final glance was at her ignited hand as her elbow was slowly dropping and the glow began to fade in her palm. Her expression changed from a hate-filled and vengeful one to a look that showed fearful recognition of what she had just been doing. Danny saw her eyes fading back to the bright green and she took a few steps backwards as the sphere around the Guys in White vanished.

Tucker and Sam, as well as quite a few others let out huge sighs of relief. But Danny was still looking at Danielle and felt his own concern for her grow and she was starting to tremble. The white ring of light appeared around her and changed her back to her human form as she dropped to her knees.

Despite how weak he was feeling now because of the poison and his friends hesitation in letting him stand up on his own, Danny managed to balance on his feet and make his way over to Danielle's side as she was looking at her hands, which were shaking.

She hid her face in her hands as he quietly knelt next to her. As if he had a choice anyway, since he could barely stand anymore. He moved a comforting hand to her shoulder and his touch startled her, making her spin around with a frightful gasp. This sudden movement also scared him a bit and he withdrew his hand for a second, until she realized it was only him. And from her expression, he could tell that she was now about to cry. Danny had a feeling he knew what she was thinking. She was scared of what she had been so close to doing. What she was about to become.

He replaced his hand on her shoulder as he saw her human blue eyes swelling up in tears. They were both silent as she stared at him for a second with a searching look, before clamping her watering eyes shut. Before another minute had passed, she suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and started sobbing on his shoulder uncontrollably.

As surprising as this was after such a dramatic change in behavior already, Danny didn't hesitate in holding his little cousin in a warm and comforting embrace, feeling almost like he was about to cry himself. He had been so afraid that he had possibly lost her in more ways than one. That he had perhaps misunderstood Clockwork. Him getting poisoned was the thing that had set Danielle off. But even as she was about to cross the point of no return, she was still willing to listen to Danny. And she had made the right choice. She just needed to be steered in the right direction: Just as he did a long time ago.

00000

Back in the ghost-zone, Clockwork and the Observants were watching these events unravel on the sage's giant time-window. After Tucker had deactivated the cloaking field around the Guys in Whites base, Clockwork was able to open a window to view inside the building. When Danielle broke out of the containment chamber, the explosion overloaded the other systems that made the Guys in White previously undetectable and the window was able to fully focus how The Master of Time desired.

He and the Observants saw as Danielle broke free of the containment chamber and started thrashing around the lab, throwing the Guys in White around like rag dolls. "What have you done, Clockwork." One of the Observants said, outraged.

Clockwork kept his eyes on the circular screen as it showed Danielle trapping the white-clothed men in the hollow sphere of energy charging up her hand for the deadly blow. "She hasn't done it _yet_." He said to them. "She'll make the right choice."

"That's what you said about the boy when you presented him with his first choice. And you were wrong about him." That same Observant said, throwing his hands up in frustration. "You had to purposely manipulate him yourself before he redirected his final decision. This time, there will be no turning back. Look at her eyes. She's about to…"

"Shhh!" The second Observant hushed the argument. "I'm trying to watch!" He said this as if they were watching a movie that was getting to a really good part.

The first observant folded his arms in ignorance and all three ghosts remained silent as they watched Danny protest against his clone's actions.

"Please." They heard him say. "Don't prove me wrong."

As everyone in the lab was observing this in apprehension, so were Clockwork and The Observants. Clockwork had seen this happen in a few visions of the future, and he at first was feeling confident that Danny would be able to help turn things around. He at least delayed her from unleashing the final blow, but as the seconds dragged on, the ghostly sage was starting to doubt whether Danielle would make the right choice after all.

But then he saw as she withdrew her attack and changed back to her human form. Clockwork let out a silent sigh of relief and smiled, turning to The Observants, who looked a bit astonished that she had decided not to go through with the kill. "See?" Clockwork said, indicating the screen as it showed Danny embracing the now tear-filled clone with comfort. "I told you. All she needed was a little guidance from one she trusted most."

"Yes, but you had once again violated certain regulations to take part in manipulating the situation." The Observant with the deeper voice said.

"Not nearly as much as last time. And in both instances, it was for the better." Clockwork said, shifting from his infant form of himself to his strong adult form.

"Perhaps." The second observant put in. "But the boy's life is still in danger because of the poison." He looked up at the window again. "And there is still much damage that must be repaired."

Clockwork turned back to the screen, where he saw Sam take a few steps towards the two Phantoms who were still on the floor in their embrace. Danielle looked over Danny's shoulder, seeing her approach. After a frightful look at the Goth, the ghost clone suddenly hid her tearstained face in her cousin's shoulder and continued to cry. As soon as Sam saw how Danielle just turned away from her, she started looking more regretful than she ever had since Danny had revealed to her the whole story in Vlad's lab.

"Yes. There is." Clockwork said in response to the Obervant's comment. Now that the most crucial point has passed, The Observants finally left the tower and Clockwork continued his watch on the two young hybrids. Danny was badly injured but Danielle had another deep wound of her own. One that she would never be able to heal on her own. Especially if Danny was lost to the poison too soon.

_**I had tried several times in putting in a part where Danny uses his Ghostly Wail to take the whole lab down, but every time I tried to revise it, it never worked out with him being poisoned as well. That disapoints me too, but sometimes some really good ideas that the writers really like have to be given up for the sake of the story. Unless I can find some way of putting that in, I'm afraid the fight goes the way it does.**_

_**By the way, Yes. There's still more to come. I'm sorry if this seems like it's just repeating itself but this is another part I had always envisioned happening in the story. Soon another familiar character from the show will be introduced to the story. **_


	26. State of Emergency

_**Yes, another suspenseful part. I just hope you've been enjoying the story so far. Please enjoy this next chapter.**_

**Chapter 26: State of Emergency**

Back in the Guys in White's lab, Danny remained on his knees, letting his little cousin cry in his arms as he started to gently rock her in his embrace. The passed week had been so hard on the both of them. Danny had even started doubting whether or not he would even know Danielle anymore if he even saw her again. Especially after talking with Clockwork. Danielle had already been living a hard life since her existence began. And yet she had also already overcome so much. Especially just now. And Danny was so proud on her for that. Was this how Jazz was feeling after he had overcome his own dark phase? He wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Tucker and Sam just stood a distance away, not wanting to intrude on this scene. Sam was the one trapped in her own thought though. After the scared look Danielle just gave her before continuing to cry on Danny's shoulder, the Goth was starting to wonder if it would have been a better idea if she hadn't come on this mission. The poor clone girl was clearly still hurt from the things Sam had said about her. She probably thought she was still accusing her of being evil. And after that incredibly close call with the Guys in White, that fear of rejection was probably growing even more in knowing that Sam had seen it.

Danielle went on sobbing and Danny ran his fingers through her long black ponytail in a gesture of reassurance that everything was all right. The members of the ghost-hunting agency started to get up, now that Danielle's rampage had subsided. Some of them were actually looking at Danielle as if in confusion of something until one of them spoke up, voicing his thoughts. "She's…crying?"

Danny shot an outraged look at the man who had even dared to ask such a question. "Well of course she's crying." He said angrily. "What did you think? That ghosts didn't have any emotions, so you can do whatever you want with them?" He turned to where the Guys in White were standing, and he raised his voice in an accusing manner. "Are you guys honestly that cold?" The two men were simply dusting themselves off as if Danielle's rampage was nothing more than a minor annoyance when Danny said this and they gave him questioning looks. Danny and his two teenage friends looked around at the armored men who were all exchanging surprised and confused looks at Danny's comment.

The ghost-boy turned back to the two employers of these henchmen. Shaking his head with a scoff of disbelief. "To you, ghosts may be nothing but wandering, unfeeling masses of ectoplasm and it is true that ghosts don't have the same concerns as living people. But think about this. If every living thing on earth has emotions, why not their spirits? All ghosts _were_ once a part of something alive. Something that more than likely had feelings. That had a heart." He then added harshly, "Unlike _you_ guys." Both men looked taken aback and quite offended by young ghost's accusation. Danny gave his still weeping cousin a bit of a tighter squeeze as she continued, clinging to his neck. "And Danielle, is still half human."

Sam and Tucker looked around at the armored men who were starting to look regretfully at the two Phantoms. It was rather confusing how they could have thought that ghosts didn't have any feelings. But even if that was true, they had been torturing the young ghost girl all week, completely disregarding what was also happening to her human half. It seemed that what Danny had said about this was hitting them pretty hard.

"Man. Danny's sure learned a way with words." Tucker said to Sam who nodded in agreement. Danielle may have come into the world in a completely different way than normal, even for Danny, but she did still have her own mind and will: Her own feelings…that Sam had completely disregarded herself before the clone had been captured.

A few seconds of thoughtful silence went by in which everyone just stared at the two ghost hybrids who were still sharing their hug. Then people started hearing a disturbance coming from outside. Sirens. The police were here.

The armored men looked around as if panic-stricken, and looking like they had completely forgotten in the midst of all the turmoil that had just taken place, that the police had been on their way the whole time.

Sam and Tucker looked at the Guys in White with mocking looks. At least until they gave infuriated expressions back to them as well as Danny. they pulled out yet more backup weapons, pointing them at him and Danielle. "You lying little rat." Operative K said to Danny as he instinctively pull Danielle back so she was more out of range. "You just made that "speech" of yours to keep us busy until the police got here."

Danny knew he would never be able to persuade them otherwise. Though he couldn't believe that they were still being so stubborn even after Danielle had just spared their lives. He was too weak to be able to dodge this one because of the poison that was already coursing through him. He didn't think he could generate enough energy to make a force-field either and he doubted Danielle was feeling in any condition to even defend herself after what she had just gone through, just now, on top of perhaps the whole week of being captive. One more blast could kill them both at once.

Sam and Tucker tried to rush to defend the two cousin hybrids, but Operative O turned his own gun on them, making them halt in their tracks before they could reach their friends.

"Well. Ghost, human or both, you still don't have long to live now, Phantom." Operative K said. "We'll just destroy you and your female look-alike now and get it over with since you've already gotten us into this much trouble."

The weapon he was holding powered up for the shot and Danielle let out a terrified scream, clenching a part of Danny's jumpsuit on his chest as he protectively ducked her head in his arms, closing his eyes and bracing for the hit.

He cringed as he heard a loud explosion, but he also heard several people crying out, in surprise including the Guys in White. A sudden draft came from the side and the ghost boy looked up to see that a giant hole had been blown through the wall from outside. In the next instant, Danny's family jumped through the hole with several policemen who were holding their own weapons.

"Freeze!" The lead policeman shouted, as he and his fellow officers directed their guns at the Guys in White.

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton saw the two white-suited men pointing dangerous looking devices at their son and niece, and pointed at them demandingly.

"Back off, government traitors." Jack shouted.

Then Maddie added, with just as much anger in her own voice, "You stay away from our children."

"_And_ their friends." Jazz said when she saw Operative O threatening Sam and Tucker as well.

The Guys in White were already startled by the sudden intrusion but there was another surprise in store when a loud and ringing howl echoed through the lab.

Danielle looked up from her cousin's protective embrace, looking around frantically with a confused look, mingled with a newfound hope in hearing the sound. She had only heard this howling noise once before but she remembered it so well and who it was that made it.

Wulf suddenly sprung in through the hole from behind Danny's family and leaped at the Guys in White. With a swing of his massive, front paw and a mighty roar, he knocked both the white-clad men away from the Phantoms, making them accidentally drop their weapons in the process of, for perhaps the twentieth time tonight, being thrown to the floor.

The armored men with helmets all scurried away in fear of the great beast as he stood over his two half-ghost friends. He lowered down to all fours, leaning over where Danny was still holding his frightened clone, like a protective wolf guarding his pups. The watchdog he had always been for them in times of peril. The giant spectral beast growled viciously at the two head agents who had tried to destroy his companions as Tucker and Sam also ran over to their ghostly friends, adding to the forces that were opposing the so-called government officials.

The Guys in White got to their feet, seeing themselves and their associates completely weaponless and outnumbered, now that the Phantom boy's promised reinforcements had arrived. But they had one more trick of their own in store that they revealed at that exact moment.

Operative K pressed a few buttons on his wrist panel and the whole ceiling of the lab suddenly opened up. Another press of a button made jetpacks mechanically appear on their backs.

In seeing what was happening, Wulf pounced at them, but the jetpacks lifted them up into the air and out of reach of anyone before the scruffy dog could get them.

They hovered over the ceiling opening, looking down at Danny. "So long Phantom." Operative O called down to him.

Then Operative K finished with his own remarks. "Considering the current state of affairs, this will be the last time you see us. Or anyone else for that matter."

Tucker, Sam and Danielle gave Danny worried looks before they saw The Guys in White give him a mocking solute. Then they turned and rocketed away with their jetpacks. Not even the helicopters that were watching the place were able to keep up with them as they shot away.

The police officers and the Fentons stared after them as they sped out of sight. Then the head officer looked around the demolished lab with a smirk. "Not very reliable are they?" He said, in seeing all the armored men. "Just taking off and leaving their own associates behind to be arrested."

The police spread out in the lab, getting to work in escorting the suited up henchmen outside. As this was happening, Danny could see the employees of the Guys in White looking in his direction…almost apologetically. This gave Danny a bit of reassurance that made him smile at least a little bit. The Guys in White may still be very thickheaded, but at least their employees looked like they were finally seeing reason. Especially after Danny had sharing a few choice words on Danielle's behalf.

Danny's parents and sister hurried over to where he and the still scared but now confused looking clone were still kneeling on the hard tile floor. "Oh Danielle, thank goodness." Maddie said, kneeling down in front of the poor girl and giving her a relieved hug. After pulling away, she noticed her expression. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

Jack also noticed his niece's face and looked worriedly at her. "Good heavens Dani, you're pale as a ghost." He didn't even think about the irony of what he just stated.

Tucker stepped forward, scratching his head as if trying to figure out how to put this into words before he said, "You might say she's had quite a…traumatic experience before you guys got here."

Jazz was looking over her mother's shoulder at her cousin in concern when her mind seemed to start contemplating something else. After looking up where the Guys in White had flown away, she looked at her little brother a bit nervously. "Danny, what did they mean by…" But then, as if her fears were just realized, her eyes widened and she looked panicked. "Danny, you're bleeding."

Danny lifted his arm out of the way of the wound Operative O had left him with. He had been so focused on helping Danielle that he had almost forgotten about his own pain. After Wulf saw the bleeding injury, he gave it a sniff and was just about to lick it to clean the blood off. But just as before his tongue even touched the wound, his ears perked up and he quickly withdrew as if afraid. Danny could see in Wulf's bright green eyes that he was getting very worried about him. The black, scruffy beast must have detected the scent of Blood Blossom.

Sam was the one who relayed this to Danny's family though. "They poisoned him. With Blood Blossoms." She said gravely.

Jazz gasped along with her parents in hearing this as Sam and Tucker did when they learned what the poison contained.

"Blood Blossoms again?" Danny's father said fearfully. By this time, Danny was holding his side tightly as if trying to stop himself from bleeding. But the green ooze just seeped through his fingers. He was also feeling his strength being eaten away from the normal effect of the deadly floral substance.

"The Guys in White said he only had a few hours if he doesn't get some help." Tucker put in urgently.

Jazz looked at Danny's wound, biting her lower lip, looking quite worried. "But no hospital has anything that can cure venomous injuries that can even kill ghosts." She pointed out regretfully. "I mean, how many people even _know_ about Blood Blossoms?"

Sam took a second to contemplate. "I don't think that berry treatment will work with this one either." She put in. looking more scared by the way Danny was clenching his waist.

"Maybe Frostbite can help." Danny said, straining to resist the pain the wound was causing him.

Everyone accept Tucker and Sam exchanged somewhat perplexed looks a the sound of this name. Danielle voiced the question first. "Who's Frostbite?"

"It's the name of the ghost that taught Danny how to use his Phreeze power." Tucker explained. "He has a medical facility in the ghost-zone. Good idea, Danny."

"Well, come on then." Jack said, helping Danny to his feet and starting to walk him towards the blown through hole and out of the lab. "We have the Specter Speeder outside. We'll get back to Fenton Works and get through the ghost portal to…"

"But Dad, it's going to take at least an hour just to get home. Even with the Specter Speeder." Jazz pointed out.

"Um…hello." Sam indicated Wulf in a singsong voice. "Wulf can just _claw_ us a portal right here."

"I don't think he can make one big enough to fit the Specter Speeder, Sam." Danny said. His weariness was now already starting to show in the quieting tone of his voice.

There was a thoughtful pause in which everyone was trying to think of what to do until Jazz looked at Danielle, who was still kneeling on the floor, absorbed in her own thoughts. "But you and Danielle can fit through just fine." The college girl said. Danielle looked up in hearing her name and looked at everyone, wondering why they were all staring at her. Jazz walked over to her, bending down on one knee. "Danielle, with your Plasma Rocket, you're the fastest one here. You can get Danny to Frostbit in a snap."

This made sense to everyone. Danny would be able to show her the way through the ghost-zone and the others could take the Specter Speeder back to Fenton Works and meet them in the Realm of the Far Frozen where Frostbite and his people resided.

Danielle was a bit hesitant with this idea however. She was already feeling a bit tired as it was in breaking herself out of the containment chamber and then already using her Plasma Rocket in releasing her rage on the Guys in White. And the ghost-zone was huge. What if she ran out of energy before she even got to the specified destination? As she looked over at Danny, he seemed to be worried about this too. Eventually, though, her gaze wandered to Danny's poisoned injury. Her cousin's life was in danger. If she was his best chance of surviving, she was willing to follow through. She showed her agreement to this plan by standing up determinedly and Going Ghost.

As she went over to where Danny's father was holding him up, she saw Sam looking at her and quickly avoided her gaze. Sam saw this and knew from it that apologizing for offending her was going to be quite a bit tougher than she thought.

Jack helped to transfer his son to Danielle's care and the ghost girl inserted Danny's arm around her shoulders to support him. Then she turned to Wulf, who nodded before turning and extending his long claws. He swiped the air, cutting a suspended portal to the ghost-zone and stepped to the side.

"Hang on tight, Danny." Danielle suggested, as she made sure she had a firm hold of her still weakening cousin.

"Be careful you two." Danny's father said as they rose a few feet into the air.

"We'll see you soon." Danielle said with a nod. Then bending her knees, charging her feet, she and Danny bent their heads down and they took off like a bullet, through Wulf's clawed-out portal.

As soon as they were gone and the portal resealed itself, Maddie clapped her hands together. "All right everyone. Let's get to the Specter Speeder." She said, beckoning everyone outside.

They all filed into the white, stout-looking ship that was parked just outside the dome-shaped building, and headed for Fenton Works at top speed. As they went, Sam started expressing her concerns for the success of the two Phantoms. Both she and Tucker knew Danielle might not have been in the best condition to be assigned such a mission after she had used so much energy already. Not to mention the torture the Guys in White had been putting her through all week.

"I think they'll be okay kids." Jack tried to reassure the teens as he drove the Speeder.

"Yeah, Danielle's a strong girl. I'm sure she'll be fine." Jazz added.

Sam did feel better after this. She had already seen Danielle's determination come through so many times already, especially when Danny's safety was concerned. Even with her own condition not exactly at it's best, if anyone could get him to Frostbite before it grew too late, she certainly could. It was just a matter of whether or not Frostbite would be able to help.

000000

Danielle sped along through the ghost-zone, being directed where to go by Danny as she carried him to get to the Realm of the Far Frozen in time. All the other realms of other ghosts flew by as she zoomed passed them as fast as her Plasma Rocket would allow. The clone couldn't understand why, but all the way there, she felt like she just knew how Danny was getting weaker and weaker by the minute. The poison was continuing to work at him and if they didn't get to Frostbite soon, they probably wouldn't have enough time to work up any kind of cure.

Soon, the Phantoms reached the frozen tunnel, which marked that they were nearly there. Danielle was starting to feel herself growing fatigued from the use of the Plasma Rocket, but she just had to hold on a little longer. So did Danny.

She fought to keep her strength up and continued her acceleration forward. She the temperature around her dropped as she entered the tunnel, but that's not the only thing she felt. Danny's strength in maintaining his hold as they were speeding along was gradually beginning to diminish. She started to panic in realizing that he was fading. She silently, begged him to hold on just a little longer, trying to mentally reassure him as well as herself that they were almost there. She was starting to see snow-covered mountains up ahead. That's got to be it. Just a little further ahead and they would arrive at their destination.

Yet, that little further was seeming to take forever to get to, and Danielle's own strength was starting to give out from complete exhaustion. But she had to make it. Danny and his family were all depending on her. Danny's chances of living were already growing slim as it was. If she couldn't do this, how could he survive this at all?

But as she was fast approaching the Realm of the Far Frozen, she just couldn't hold out on the Plasma Rocket anymore. She found herself slow down drastically when she let it off, yet the speed she had already built up was leading them both into a crash-landing. And she was too tired to try and slow herself down before the impact came.

Danielle received a shocking wave of cold as she hit a snow-covered slope dead on. But that wasn't all. She felt herself slipping down the steep slope, disrupting the snow, which then followed her all the way down the slope, until she tumbled to a stop on more leveled ground. The snow landed on top of her and it was very difficult to dislodge herself from it, being so tired already.

But with great effort she did manage to get to her knees, shaking her head to get the snow out of her hair. She shivered and started rubbing her arms when she realized how cold it was. Her head was hurting and her vision was going dark. Was she about to faint?

Wait. Where was Danny? She gasped, looking around frantically for him. In the impact, she didn't realize that she must have let go of him. She saw him laying half buried in the avalanche a few yards away and stiffly crawled over to him. She pulled him out within a few minutes, but she was still feeling herself grow weaker the whole time. Danny tried to get up, but he could barely lift his head before he fell back down to the ground.

"Danny." Danielle said weakly as she shook him, trying to get him to respond in some way. She couldn't explain why but she somehow knew that he was indeed still alive, but he was still in pain from the poison. Still fading. How long has it been since they left the Guys in White's lab? Had it already been three hours? Was Danny already down to his last minutes of life? Danielle hadn't really been in the ghost-zone much before and she wasn't exactly keeping track of time when they had left.

She wasn't even able to keep her train of thought as she felt herself getting very lightheaded. She tried to keep her mind and vision focused, but she felt like she was getting all scrambled up inside, like when she had the guys in White's Spectral diffusion device on her. She felt herself change back to her human form and without her ghost powers active, the cold around her became very overpowering. Her physical strength was beginning to give out and she fell on her back in the snow next to her motionless cousin. As much as the now desperate clone wanted to get up, she just couldn't hold out anymore.

She laid there, shivering in the cold and she could see her breath coming out in clouds of ice-cold vapor before her eyes drooped shut. Inside herself, she just knew that Danny's pain had already gotten so much worse since he had been shot. It was almost like she could feel the Blood Blossoms working away at him. She herself couldn't even move anymore and they were probably miles away from civilization: Much less any kind of help from Frostbite.

Could this be the end of the both of them? Danny already fading slowly and painfully and Danielle about to freeze to death beside him when she failed to achieve her objective?

She was starting to grow numb from the overwhelming cold and knew she probably wouldn't last much longer as she faded into the darkness that was already taking her mind and vision.

Suddenly, she became aware of something or someone picking her up. She was now up against a soft and warm surface that better sheltered her from the cold. Though her eyelids still felt too heavy to open and see what was going on. She did, however, hear thundering footsteps were shifting around them, crunching the snow down. And Danny was talking to someone.

"Frostbite." Danielle heard her cousin's voice say quietly, but in relief.

A deeper and more projected voice answered with concern. "You're injured, Great One."

Danny sounded like he was moaning from the pain that the poison was inflicting on him. This must have concerned Frostbite judging by the next thing he said and the urgent way he said it. "Don't worry, Danny Phantom. You're in good hands. And so is your female acquaintance."

So they had made it. Frostbite was here with some of his own associates. (Danielle guessed this because of the sounds of multiple pairs of thundering footsteps.) And they were carrying her and Danny down the mountain to be cared for. She still felt her mind growing blank, but she knew they were safe. And she passed out completely, at least knowing that she would eventually be waking up again.

_**Now, I'm a little bit concerned about this chapter. Especially the part where Danny gives that whole speech about ghosts having feelings. Did that work out for you guys? Did it make enough sense and sound like it tied in well enough with the show, or do you think it was a little confusing…or even corny. I'm really worried about that part so please let me know how you feel about it in your reviews. In fact I'm starting to get the feeling that maybe people aren't appreciating this story as much as they used to when I was first starting to write it.**_

_**Let me know how you like how this is going in your reviews. Remember. If there's anything that you think could use a bit of improvement, let me know and I'll see what I can do with it. And if you also have questions about things that don't make sense, you can PM me. Now that I have my own account on this website.**_


	27. Sorrow in Passing

**Chapter 27: Sorrow in Passing**

Danielle's eyes slowly flickered open as she woke up with a huge headache. Her eyes looked around, but her brain could barely register what she was really seeing before she closed her eyes again, moaning from the pain in her head as well as throughout the rest of her body. It took a while to remember how she had ended up in such an agonizing state. Her mind replayed certain memories of the passed week for a while until it got to the part where the Guys in White had poisoned Danny.

Suddenly, the clone's eyes shot open again, and she was brought back to the reality of the current situation. That's right. Danny was fading fast as she was trying to get him to the Realm of the Far Frozen as quickly as possible. Completely exhausting herself in doing so. And she thought he had gone unconscious by the time they had crash-landed.

"Danny." She exclaimed, bolting upright as her previous fears were fast returning. But she sat up too quickly and an even bigger headache suddenly came up from the back of her neck. She moaned painfully, massaging the back of her head where the soreness was mainly coming from.

"Please, you must rest." Said a raspy and unfamiliar voice from her right. When the female clone looked in that direction, there was a very large and rather fearsome looking beast about the size Wulf was. Only this one had sleek white fur, stood on two legs at all times and he had a long horny tail. He wore tan, tribal looking clothes and boots that looked like they could have been made from the skins of another kind of furry animal. (This felt a little ironic to Danielle) He had horns on his head that seemed to be made completely of solid ice and he held a sort of clipboard in his giant clawed hands.

After taking in the sight of this abominable snow ghost, Danielle now looked around with her mind in much more awareness. The room she was in almost looked like a cave with its raged stone walls and dome-shape appearance. Icicles hung from the ceiling and the floor seemed to be covered in a thick blanket of ice. She had been laid on a large and flat stone that served as a sort of bed.

Even though Danielle knew it couldn't be any sort of experimental lab, the machines and computer screens lining the walls everywhere were reminding her very much of the labs she had had horrifying experiences in. She was stating to get the same feeling as she did whenever she had to go down in the lab at Fenton Works.

"There's no need to be afraid." Said another voice that boomed deeply from across the room. Another one of those white furred creatures was also in the room. Only this one looked more elderly and his tribal outfit looked more magnificent with his blue cape and gold trinkets that decorated his appearance a bit more. What fascinated Danielle the most about this ghost was the fact that his entire left arm was made of the same kind of ice as his horns. You could actually see the bony skeleton right through the transparent and glasslike substance. "I know our general appearance may be a bit intimidating, but I assure you, you are among friends." He additionally said.

"Oh no, don't worry about that. It's not you." Danielle said shaking her head. Frostbite must have seen how she was looking scared and thought it must have been of _him_. Though she wished she could have had a warning that Frostbite looked like a dangerous monster, in meeting Wulf, she had already learned that appearances could be deceiving.

What the teenage hybrid said seemed to please the beast and he smiled warmly, despite the huge fangs that stuck out of his mouth. He approached slowly and, to Danielle's astonishment, he bent down to the floor on one knee, bowing in a respectful manner before her. "I am Frostbite. Leader of the Realm of the Far Frozen. It's an honor to make your acquaintance, young Phantom."

"W-what?" Danielle looked at her hand, thinking she might be in her ghost form for these creatures to know that she was a Phantom, but as she thought she did, she had her human appearance.

Frostbite rose to his feet and he looked at the other snow creature for a second. Both seemed uncertain and confused, as if afraid they might have offended her.

"Are you not related to the great Danny Phantom, dear one? Savior of the Ghost Zone as well as, by now, his own world?" Frostbite asked, turning back to her.

Danielle stared at him for a confused second of her own before responding hesitantly. "Well…yeah, he's my cousin…sort of." She said this last part quietly to herself. "But…how did you…?" Her sentence trailed off as a thought occurred to her. "Oh wait. Did _he_ tell you?" The teenage hybrid asked, thinking that Danny must have told them all about her by now.

Frostbite shook his head. "The only thing he has been able to tell us since you arrived here is how he was poisoned. With Blood Blossom, of all things."

This statement suddenly started turning wheels in the ghost girl's memory and she swung her feet off the side of the flat boulder she was on, "Where is he? Is he okay?" She asked quickly, and half fearing what the answer might be.

Frostbite held up his clawed hands reassuringly. "It's all right, cousin of the Great One. He's in a separate room being cared for as we speak. You yourself have only been unconscious for less than half an hour."

Danielle relaxed in hearing this. So Danny was still alive after all. Then again, she could _feel_ that he was. Though she was still unsure why she was able to just know.

At that moment she noticed how cold it actually was in the cave-like room and started rubbing her arms, trying to warm herself. She tried to Go Ghost, but she was still feeling too exhausted to do so. If she could, she would be able to withstand the temperature better.

Frostbite and his furry companion noticed her shivering and the one holding the clipboard went over to a storage cabinet to retrieve a blanket. Then he went back over to Danielle with it and draped it around her shoulders. "Oh, thanks." She said with a grateful nod and wrapped the blanket more tightly around her. She pulled her feet back onto the boulder she was sitting on and backed up against the stone wall behind her, tucking her legs under the blanket as well to keep warm. "But…if Danny didn't tell you about me, how did you know I was a Phantom?" She asked when she felt comfortable enough. "I thought I wasn't even in my ghost mode when you found us."

To her surprise, Frostbite threw his head back with a laugh of amusement. "Anyone who is observant enough doesn't have to see you in your ghost form to know that you already have something very much in common with Danny Phantom." He explained. "There's something in your eyes that reflects his very spirit. The minute I saw you, I just knew."

The tan clothed beast nodded to this. "Several of us also noticed this about you. It's obvious you have his courage."

Danielle just scoffed doubtfully in what was just said. Her? With Danny's courage? She found that quite unlikely. Frostbite clarified when he saw her objecting look. "Why else would you have used up all of your energy to get him here so quickly?" He said.

Danielle looked down at her shoes, which were peaking out from under the blanket she was wrapped in, and pondered on this for a moment. Nothing else was said on this subject, but she felt a bit amazed that they were holding her name in just as much reverence as Danny, even though she didn't feel like they had witnessed anything to earn her such a reputation.

"Can I see him?" She asked after this moment of silence.

"Not just yet, dear one. You need to rest first." The beast with the clipboard said. "You must have had quite a nasty fall in coming here. And judging by the current state Danny is in, I'd say that you've gone through quite a bit _before_ that. In addition, wandering about just after wearing yourself out like that could make your own condition even worse."

Frostbite nodded in agreement. But then he bowed, saying, "However, once you are feeling well enough, I will take you to see him myself, if that is what you wish."

"But when he got poisoned, he only had three hours." Danielle said quickly, in a worried way. "And I don't know how long it's been since we…"

The first beast raised his huge hand, interrupting her. "We've been able to give him a medication that will delay the progress of the poison until we can come up with an antidote. The poison was perhaps half way through with him already when you reached our realm, but we've managed to multiply that time tenfold. He now still has a full day left. Giving us more time to find an antidote and giving _you_ the time you need to rest from your hard day. And I dare say it was."

This news did make Danielle feel a bit better. She could feel that the poison was still working at Danny, but he wasn't in as much pain as she knew he was in when she was blacking out in the snow. But she still felt that at least seeing Danny would help double that reassurance. Then again, these two specters were probably right. What else could she do to help right now anyway? She was aching all over and she still couldn't Go Ghost from the lack of energy she had used up to power her Plasma Rocket. In fact that was probably the longest and hardest distance she had ever traveled with it. She finally started to notice how tired she still was when her eyelids started to become heavy. The worn out clone nodded to Frostbite to show her agreement to what he and his physician friend were telling her and laid back down on the boulder, still curled up in the blanket.

When she saw Frostbite walk away with another smile, she fell asleep quite quickly, despite her longing to see how Danny was doing. Her dreams were once again apprehensive ones, filled with visions of Danny losing his life and Vlad coming after her again now that the one she was cloned from was no longer there to protect her. But her sleep, despite it only being for a few hours was nevertheless, perhaps the best she had been able to have all week. She was hardly allowed to rest while the Guys in White were holding her captive and the use of her Plasma Rocket was always enough to take it out of her.

She only woke up from the nightmare she was having and by that time, she did at least feel much better. Her muscles still hurt, and she didn't want to try to Go Ghost just yet, but her headache was gone and she felt like she could withstand the nippy temperature better anyway. Even without the blanket.

She couldn't really go back to sleep anymore after that, so within the next minute, Frostbite was personally carrying her down a frozen hallway, in his warm and furry white hands to see Danny, just as he had promised. He ducked into an opening that was closed off with a tattered cloth that served as a curtain.

It led to another cave-like room with medical screens and machines lining the walls, only this one was smaller than the first. In the center of this room, in front of a tank full of some kind of bubbling liquid was a large smooth, rectangular stone, similar to the one Danielle had woken up on, where Danny was laid on his back. He seemed to be wired to some mechanical devices that helped to show his heartbeat and other vital signs on a screen. Another of the Far Frozen villagers was busy at the controls of a machine that must have had some sort of medical purpose for Danny.

As soon as Frostbite had entered the area, carrying the little teenage girl, Danny turned his head and smiled at his little cousin in greeting. He looked quite weary, but Danielle was so relieved to see that he was still conscious after the fall they had both taken.

Frostbite set the young girl down by Danny's bedside as the other Far Frozen citizen assisted him in sitting up so she could give him a hug. She noticed, though that his return of it wasn't as strong as it once was. He was still growing weaker despite his extended time.

After seeing the two cousins exchange their greetings, Frostbite stepped forward. "A bit of the poison has now been isolated in your blood sample, Great One." He said to Danny as he was gently laid back down. "From it, we will be able to synthesize an antidote that will completely neutralize it from your body."

"Thanks." Danny said. Though, he suddenly winced and his hand shot to his side where his wound was now bandaged but still causing him constant pain. Danielle gave him a miserable look of pity as she saw him do this. She could almost feel what agony he was going through.

Danny sighed and looked back up to his abominable snow beast friend. "Why is it that every time I come here, it's always in a crash-landing and in need of your help?"

Frostbite chuckled pleasantly. "Your custom procedures?" He said playfully "Either way, it's always a pleasure to have you with us, no matter in what way you…how shall I say it? _Drop in_." Both he and Danny laughed at the joke.

Danielle was partially surprised how Danny could still have his sense of humor even while suffering from an anti-ghost remedy internally.

The young ghost hero looked at his younger cousin for a second as she sat down in a wooden chair next to him that she guessed must have been set out for her. Then Danny turned his attention back to Frostbite. "Hey, could I have a minute here with my cousin?" He asked tiredly.

"But of course, Great One." Frostbite responded, bowing himself out of the room. The physician also left as Danny looked back at Danielle, putting his hand on hers, where she had set it up on the stone he was resting on.

"How are you feeling?" He asked her with a smile.

Danielle pulled her hand away as if offended. "What are you asking _me_ for? _You're_ the one who's on the death bed."

Danny stared at her from her sudden change in behavior. "I'm still alive, aren't I?" He pointed out.

"Yeah, but for how much longer?"

Danny paused and only responded by looking in the direction of the screen on the wall. There was a digital timer in the corner of the monitor counting down from approximately eighteen hours.

"It's a lot longer than the three hours The Guys in White gave me." Danny said, looking on the bright side.

Danielle sighed heavily, looking down at the floor. "Danny, why did you have to come after me?" She quietly asked.

Danny looked back at his clone, disbelieving at what he had just heard her say. "What?"

"I turned myself over to The Guys in White so they wouldn't hurt you."

"Dani, I was _not_ going to just sit at home, knowing that they were hurting _you_." Danny said. Danielle just folded her arms with a huff, leaning back in the wooden chair she was sitting on. Danny let out a sigh. "Dani, listen. You and I have some kind of link. We can feel each other's pain. I could tell whenever The Guys in White were putting you through something terrible. Sometimes I could even hear you screaming in my head. It was like reliving that time in Vlad's lab all over again. They probably would have eventually killed you."

"So what? Maybe it would have been better like that." Danielle responded angrily, and yet tensing up from the sadness she was feeling on the inside. "No one would have missed me anyway." _Especially Sam_. She thought this last part to herself

"Don't you dare start on that again. You know it's not true." Danny said. Almost wanting to get up from the medical bed and face Danielle properly. But in his current condition, he knew that that was impossible. "Besides, if I wasn't there to talk you out of it, you would have killed the Guys in White."

Danielle exhaled and shot a look at her cousin, and almost shouted. "I only threw that fit because you got poisoned, Danny." She argued, trying to choke back her tears she was beginning to feel were coming on. "And before that…I attacked _you_. Just so you would let me leave Amity Park."

Danny looked at his worried cousin with remorse as she looked at her hands that had nearly caused the murder of two people at once. "Danny, what's happening to me?" She asked sadly. "What if next time I actually _do_ kill someone? What if that someone might be _you_?

At that exact moment, a calm voice came from somewhere else in the room. "There's no need to worry about that anymore, Danielle, because there won't _be_ a next time." Danielle spun around, surprised to see a pale blue ghost with a purple cloak and a strange staff floating above the floor in the room.

"Clockwork." Danny said, in a friendly greeting tone. Danielle assumed that he must have known this ghost on good terms because of this.

But in going back to the topic they were just on, she said in an ignorant but still worried tone to the purple-cloaked ghost, "And how would _you_ know if there won't be a next time?"

Danielle was confused when Danny scoffed at her comment that she thought was quite reasonable. "Didn't you notice how he just called you by name, Dani? He's the Master of Time: The ghost that helped me to see the light in my own dark days. There's little he _doesn't_ know about."

"Including the fact that your cousin coming to your rescue was for the better." Clockwork put in, as he glided towards the two Phantoms and to Danielle's bewilderment, suddenly changing into the appearance of a lanky long-bearded old man.

"How could it have been for the better if Danny coming and getting poisoned set me off?" Danielle asked, ignoring Clockwork's sudden change in his appearance and just looking down at her shoes in solemn.

"You were refusing to tell The Guys in White how you got your powers in fear that if you told them anything, they would find out that you were actually a clone and would think you useless to experiment on and start going after Danny again. Therefore if you didn't die under questioning of your own powers, they would have instead started asking you about where his new house was." Both Phantoms listened intently as Clockwork explained this. Danielle's eyes widened and she bit her lower lip in a bit of frightened thought. "You would never betray Danny by giving away his hiding place, so they would have then tried to lure him out by holding you up for ransom. And _that,_ child, in addition to their constant persistence to get the knowledge they wanted about Danny, is what would have fuelled your anger."

Danielle stared at the old sage for a moment in learning this. "So…" Danielle finally said, glancing between Danny and Clockwork (who now changed into his infant form). "I would have gone on that rampage anyway…and…and murdered them?"

"Yes. Only Danny wouldn't have been there to stop you." Clockwork said. Danielle propped her elbows on her knees and hid her face in her hands as The Master of Time continued. "Had you proceeded with the kill, you would have eventually reached a point where you would have been able to replace even Vlad Plasmius himself as Danny's archenemy."

Danielle put her feet up on the chair she was sitting on and wrapped her arms around her knees, trying not to envision herself as this evil being Clockwork spoke of. Vlad had always been haunting her dreams, but she had never even thought that she would somehow, in a way _become_ him.

Clockwork bent down, changing into his present-day form, looking into her face, and putting a gloved hand on her shoulder before saying with a smile, "but you _didn't_ go through with the murder." Danielle looked back at Clockwork with a searching expression as he went on. "You may have been very close to doing it, but you made the right choice in the end. And I can assure you right now that after making that decision, you will never get that close again."

There was a moment of thoughtful silence that passed where Danielle especially was beginning to get her reassurance back. She gave Clockwork a nod in understanding and he straightened up, looking like he was proud of another job well done. "Now. I'd best be going." He said to the two Phantom cousins.

Danny looked at the sage as if disappointed to hear this news. "You're not gonna stay?" He asked. "Not even…to tell me…if I'll make it through this?" He put a hand on his bandaged wound through which he had been poisoned.

Clockwork shook his head. "The Observants would have my head if they found out I was even here. Much less telling you how things would have happened in the future if certain alternate events had taken place. And they're already beyond the breaking point with me as it is." Danny scoffed and rolled his eyes in an, 'I'll bet' sort of way before Clockwork added with a wink, "Besides. The rest of your family has nearly arrived here. You will be seeing them very soon."

The Phantoms beamed, looking at each other after hearing this. But when they turned back to thank Clockwork, he had vanished.

Danielle felt as if a great burden had been lifted off her shoulders. She was fairly sure that if Clockwork hadn't told her the things he did, that experience with being so close to truly becoming Vlad's creation would have haunted her for the rest of her life. But in turning back to her slowly fading cousin, she looked at the wound he had, feeling lost inside. Clockwork may have made sure that things turned out for the better for _Danielle_, but what about Danny? What was going to happen to _his_ future? Will he even have one at all?

A few minutes later, Frostbite pulled back the tattered cloth peaking inside the room. "Forgive my intrusion, Great One. But more visitors have arrived to see you." He said, with a bow. "Shall I admit them?"

"Please." Danny said, in his quieted and yet excited tone.

As soon as Frostbite had stepped aside from the entryway, Sam was the first one to come bolting in and run straight to her friend to give him a squeeze. Though he could barely return the hug this time from growing so weak and he cringed when Sam accidentally touched his severe injury.

"Sorry." Sam said, pulling away as if afraid she might hurt him even more. Tucker and Jazz came right after and then finally Mr. and Mrs. Fenton. Danielle quietly backed away as Danny's loved ones gathered around him, expressing their thoughts of relief to see that he was still alive.

"When the three hours had passed, we were starting to worry." Mr. Fenton said as he and his wife approached their son.

Time passed on where stories were exchanged and the antidote's making was in progress. As the Fenton family got more acquainted with Frostbite and his people, a tour was given in their realm that included a peak inside the shrine that they had personally dedicated to Danny after the time he had defeated the Ghost King. Another section had been added for the time he had gathered all of the ghosts together to turn the world intangible to protect it from getting hit by the asteroid. Danielle thought it looked a lot like Wulf's memorial. Though it was much bigger and was the tribute of an entire civilization that admired Danny as a hero.

There were also times where Danielle was able to go and catch up on more sleep, but she and the others spent most of their time visiting with Danny as if it would be the last time they would ever be able to spend time together. Though during these gathered times, Danielle always got edgy in being in close proximity to Sam. She would usually separate herself from the whole group to sit in another corner of the room by herself as they continued to talk with the dying hero. She felt quite isolated and alone as she watched these scenes. Just like the way she was when his family had come to see him after escaping Freakshow's Circus Gothica train. All the time the hours passed, the depressed clone could feel Danny's pain as the Blood Blossoms continued to eat his life away.

As his countdown was approaching about four hours, the family was once again gathered all together by his bedside, though Danielle was in her usual corner of the room. The conversation they were having eventually led to where Danny beckoned Jazz to come closer to him. He was glancing in Danielle's direction as his sister did as he requested, so the clone got a bit suspicious that what he was about to say had something to do with her.

"What is it, little brother?" Jazz asked as she grasped his hand. He gripped it back firmly as if trying to strain against the torture going on inside him. By now, even though he could still speak, he could no longer keep his eyes open. When Danny asked her to, Jazz bent down over him and turned her head so he could whisper something in her ear that was audible to no one else. People tried to lean in to hear what Danny was saying, but to no avail. When he had finished, Jazz turned to look at Danielle for a second, with an unreadable expression.

Soon after this private message was given, Danielle suddenly felt a cold chill ran down her spine. She had noticed something inside her almost disappear.

Jazz had gasped at the same time in feeling Danny's hand suddenly go limp as she has holding it in hers. "Danny?" She said, with fear growing in her voice as she shook him a bit. "Danny?"

Danny didn't answer. He didn't move at all. He just lay there completely still and having a glint of a pain-filled expression still crossing his paling face.

Danielle got to her feet in a hurry as Jazz turned to her parents, looking very worried. Everyone else exchanged frightened looks as Frostbite moved over to the monitor where he started rapidly pressing buttons to analyze Danny's vital signs.

"What's happened?" Mrs. Fenton asked, glancing desperately between the village leader, Mr. Fenton and her now motionless son.

"He didn't just…" Tucker was starting to say.

"He's still alive." Frostbite quickly responded before Tucker finished. "But the Blood Blossoms have made him so weak, he's gone into a state of a coma."

Danielle bolted over to the screen to have a look herself. Danny's heart rate was still going, but it had become more faint since the first time she looked at the monitor. And the countdown was still ticking away Danny's life one second at a time with less than four hours to go. There were a few other sections of the screen indicating what else was happening to Danny internally, but she didn't understand what they meant. Everyone looked at Danny's seemingly already lifeless form, in more concern than ever, including Danielle. "But…he'll be okay…right?" She asked, looking up at Frostbite.

The blue-caped ghost was a bit hesitant before answering, which made everyone's anxiety grow even more. "Well…it's actually hard to say."

"Why?" Sam urged for him to continue, though she half didn't want him to in fear of what he might say next.

One of the other members of the frozen realm approached with this answer. "The antidote has proven much more difficult to make than we comprehended." He said with a somewhat guilty look on his face. "Very few of our people have ever crossed Blood Blossom and survived it. Though in Danny Phantom's case, it is not nearly as effective as it would be in its natural state. However, with it liquidized and actually lodging inside his form, it has been difficult to come up with a cure that would neutralize the poison but at the same time be sure that it won't cause any damage to him as well."

"So there's still a chance we could lose him?" Danielle asked, trying her best not to sound too scared.

The abominable snow doctor looked at his leader and they both looked sorrowful before Frostbite took his turn in breaking the bad news. "I know it will pain you all to hear this, but…unless we can come up with the antidote before his time runs out…that's the last time he will be waking up at all."

A cloud of sorrow hung over everyone in the room as Frostbite's message was absorbed. Danielle tried so hard to pretend that she didn't hear what was just said, if not at least have misunderstood it. But it was no use.

No one was finding anything else to say. Not even to somehow lighten up the tension in the room. Remaining silent, people started to file out, thinking it would just be best to let Frostbite and the doctors work.

Sam was the last one left in the room and just couldn't leave without first doing something she had hoped to be able to do while Danny was still conscious. She went back over to the place where he lay. She took a moment to stroke the top of his head, combing her fingers through his thick, snow-white hair with the hand that wore the class ring he had given her after he had saved Earth.

She carefully lifted Danny's head a bit with this same hand, taking his white-gloved hand in her other, lacing her fingers between his and holding their linked hands close to her. Then she bent down, and closed her eyes as she gave him a long and gentle kiss.

Sam didn't know this, but Frostbite saw this happen and smiled, turning away out of respect.

Sam let the kiss off slowly and touched foreheads with Danny as she set his hand back down and moved hers to touch his cheek. His skin had already grown so cold and his face was colorless. And to think that in a few hours, there may not be any chance that he would be able to return that kiss she had just given him. No chance that there would be warmth left in him at all.

After gently laying him back down, Sam silently walked out, looking back at Danny one last time before letting the curtain fall in front of the entryway behind her.

_**What did you think of the bit of romance I had between Sam and Danny? I felt I've been focused a bit too much on the Phantom's family relationship. But anyway, I just know you guys are hating me right now for leaving it at another cliffhanger. But it just seemed reasonable enough to end it at this point.**_


	28. Danny's Will Be Done

**Chapter 28: Danny's Will Be Done**

Danielle was the first to exit the room. Somehow, she just couldn't stand being in the same room as Danny anymore. Seeing his body laying there unmoving while on the inside, she knew he was having the battle of his life…that he was losing. Yet, even distancing herself from his body like this didn't stop her from sensing his pain the poison was still causing him, even while unconscious.

Everyone had now gathered just outside the room in the frozen hall by the time Sam had finally come out. Tucker was the first to turn to Jazz and phrase the question everyone was thinking of as soon as the young Goth had joined them. "So… what did Danny say to you?" He asked.

It was a minute before Jazz answered. "Oh…um..." She began slowly. "He was just…requesting something."

"What was it?" Danielle questioned, though a bit nervously.

Jazz looked a bit awkward when she noticed everyone's attention suddenly locked on her. "Just in case he…well…doesn't make it…" She hesitated in saying at first, but she seemed to pluck up her courage and faced the youngest of the group specifically. "Danielle." The college student said, before finishing in one breath, "He wants you to take his place as the new Danny Phantom."

Danielle's eyes widened and she took a step backwards in surprise. "Wha…what?"

She glanced around at everyone as if trying to get an additional explanation, or just waiting for someone to say with a laugh that it was just a joke. But in seeing all of their faces, particularly Jazz's, she had no choice but to believe that Danny's sister was being serious about this.

"No." The ghost-powered clone suddenly blurted. "I won't do it." Everyone looked taken aback at how Danielle just protested straight off.

"But Danielle," Jazz responded. "If he goes, and when the word of that gets out, ghosts will be taking advantage of it and start coming in by the hoards."

"Well then, why didn't he tell me himself?" The young hybrid demanded incredulously.

Jazz only shrugged, saying, "He probably knew you would object to it and it's not like he's in any condition to argue anymore."

"The coward!"

"Danielle!" Mrs. Fenton exclaimed, quite bewildered that her niece would say such a thing.

Danielle turned her back towards the others and folded her arms tightly, ignoring Danny's mother. "So he just sends his older sister to make his argument for him." She huffed, rolling her eyes. "You guys are all his family. You've fought alongside him for longer than I have. Why can't _you_ just do it?"

"You're _also_ family, Dani." Jazz put in. Even though Danielle had turned away, this phrase suddenly had her attention. "And it makes more sense if _you_ do it." Jazz continued. "Danny's become a symbol of hope for everyone. Especially in Amity Park. You were the first one among us who saw what happened when he was just gone for a week. Not even Valerie could hold them off. But Danielle, _you're_ his spitting image. Just looking at you strikes as much fear into enemy ghosts as Danny does. You're the only one who can protect Amity Park as effectively."

"You're saying that as if there's no hope that Danny's going to survive at all." Danielle commented, frustration entering her tone.

"I didn't say that." Jazz raised her hands defensively as she said this. "I'm just telling you that if he _does_ die, he wants to make sure that his position as the teen ghost-fighter is filled."

"I'm not replacing him!" Danielle spun around, shouting and tensing up. This outburst startled everyone and they remained silent as Danielle composed herself to say more calmly, but still sounding aggrieved. "And I won't have to anyway." She tried very hard to sound confident, though slowly wavering as she paused in between every sentence. "Because he'll make it. He'll live."

Despite her words, Danielle's surety disappeared as she saw the reflected meaning behind everyone's doubtful expressions. She looked down at the floor, trying desperately to hold back tears that were coming on. But remembering what Frostbite had said forced them up. Though, the people of the Realm of the Far Frozen were doing their best to make the antidote, chances were, it wouldn't be finished in time and Danny really would be lost.

The thought of living on without him scared the young clone and she could no longer hold back on her feelings. "He can't go." She whimpered and the tears finally began rolling down her cheeks as she sensed her cousin's life slowly and painfully slipping away. And there was nothing she could do about it.

Mrs. Fenton walked up to the saddened hybrid and put her arms around her in comfort: The way Danny usually did whenever Danielle was feeling so helpless. This shown affection somewhat surprised the clone, but she just couldn't help but let herself cry in Maddie's loving embrace. Everyone else looked like they were on the verge of tears as well as Mrs. Fenton softly tried to hush her sobbing niece.

Danielle look up from Mrs. Fenton's arms to see that Sam was approaching and flashes of the argument she had overheard her having with Danny started flying passed her recollection.

_I can't help but think that these battles she's helped you with is all just an act_. Danielle remembered her saying.

She glared at the Goth as she recalled this quote, word for word. "What?" She asked Sam bitterly, pulling away from Danny's mother. "You think these tears are fake too?"

Sam blinked, being completely thrown off by this question. "Wha…uh…I…" she stammered, not able to think of how to respond. Before she could think of anything that Danielle wouldn't take the wrong way, the clone bolted, shoving her aside as she ran passed her, crying harder than ever.

"Dani." Maddie solemnly called after her as she ran off through the frozen hall of the medical facility.

Sam watched guiltily as the poor girl disappeared through the cave-mouth entryway that led to the snow-covered wasteland outside.

000000

Danielle continued to run, letting her tears fall from her face. It was quite a bit colder out here than it was inside, but she didn't want to Go Ghost. Half of all the people living in this realm already guessed her to be related to Danny Phantom while in her human state, but her ghost mode would certainly make her instantly recognizable as such. And right now, all she wanted was to just be alone.

It was only when she had left the medical facility far behind that she finally slowed to a walk and found herself near the shrine. She shivered, rubbing her arms vigorously as the cold was starting to get to her and thought she would go inside to warm up a bit. Besides, it looked void of any visitors at the moment, so it was probably a good place to hide.

As soon as she stepped inside, she was surrounded by carved-out images of Danny in the events of heroic deeds. It was still quite a bit nippy in here, but not as much as it was outside in the snow.

After blowing warm air into her hands and rubbing them together, she started to look at the etchings on the walls. She ran her fingers over the drawings as she passed them, going deeper into the cave.

Over the passed few months of living in Amity Park, Danny had told Danielle much about his adventures, especially to help his clone get more familiar with the ghost enemies that were constantly attacking the town. But though the stories were many, the ones she remembered him telling her were only half of the events she recognized were on the walls. She could only guess that Danny had several more experiences that even Sam or Tucker didn't even know about.

Danielle suddenly stopped her progression into the cave at the thought of Danny's friends. Particularly Sam. The teen ghost's memories wandered back to the accusations she overheard Sam making. She had always avoided her from then on in fear that she might start blaming her for Danny's current condition.

Poor Danielle sighed sadly. Would Sam ever see her in a new perspective? Would she understand the changes she had gone through to purposely separate herself from Vlad? The teenage clone had even altered her own Phantom outfit to do so. Even though it already resembled Danny's jumpsuit a whole lot more than Vlad's vampire-like outfit, the young clone refused to keep the look her deceptive creator had given her. So she made the modifications to it herself from what it originally was.

On another note, as the girl went deeper and deeper into the cave, continuing to examine the etchings of the shrine, she was starting to think that maybe coming here wasn't a good idea after all. She stared at the pictures, and was starting to envision scratched-in mages of herself being in this shrine: Replacing Danny.

_He wants you to take his place as the new Danny Phantom, _Danielle remembered Jazz saying to her as she knelt down on the cold, stone floor of the cave to look at another picture that was lower on the wall. Then she started to feel tears coming on again as she thought of Danny's motionless body back in the medical facility.

She could sense that the Blood Blossoms were still burning him on the inside, causing him such prolonged suffering he would never be able to endure for much longer. The pain kept going, as if determined not to let up until every last bit that was keeping its victim alive was completely destroyed. The sorrowful clone so wanted the feelings inside her to stop, but she knew that if that happened, it would mean that Danny was dead. She could barley feel him hanging on as it was.

Danielle slammed her clenched fist on the rocky wall in anger as she began to cry again.

Why? Of the two of them, why was it Danny who had to undergo such a terrible fate? Why is it that Danielle couldn't help him this time? If Danny did die, she would never to be able to succeed in everything he had. Where would she even be without him? Off destroying the world after destroying the Guys in White as her evil self emerged, that's what. Melted down to a mass of liquid ectoplasm, being experimented on for research. Or even perhaps still working for Vlad until that happened.

And because Danny always had to come to her aid in trying times, look where he was now. In fact, now that Danielle thought about it, what if she had just listened to Danny and stayed in Amity Park where she was safe from the Guys in White?

Danielle willingly let out her sobs as she pressed her forehead to the wall, thinking back on that night she had been taken captive. Danny was right. She shouldn't have taken what Sam had said so hard. None of this would have happened if she had just listened to him. After all, before Danny earned his reputation as a hero, everyone in his entire hometown thought him to be another ghostly criminal. What did _she_ have to complain about in comparison to that? She just heard one little comment that she had decided to take offensively and she was so focused on her own feelings that she didn't even think about what might happen to Danny or anyone else because of her selfishness.

"Danny, I'm so sorry." Danielle said aloud to the wall between her sobs.

"You shouldn't be blaming yourself for that."

Danielle jumped in surprise and spun around in hearing a voice say this behind her. But thoughts of antipathy suddenly entered her mind when she realized it was Sam. The Goth was wearing a warm-looking white jacket that had the green Fenton insignia on it that she had gotten from the Specter Speeder.

"Why?" The young hybrid responded bitterly, wiping her tears away with her sleeve. "Because _you're_ the one who's supposed to blame me for it?"

Sam looked a bit taken aback by this question, as well as by the way Danielle had said it. "No. I just…"

"Oh, save it Sam." Danielle interrupted angrily, turning back to the wall. "I already know it's my fault, okay." There was a moment of silence between the two girls as Danielle emotions were beginning to reveal themselves through her tears again. "Danny's hurt because he had to come and protect me after I ran away. You don't have to say anything else."

"I wasn't going to say anything like that." Sam said, as she walked up behind the clone, who was still on her knees. "And if you would stop purposely avoiding me, and give me a chance…"

"You never gave _me_ a chance, Sam." Danielle suddenly blurted, shooting up to her feet and facing Danny's friend. Though her tone had become harsher, her wet eyes still gave her away. "No matter what I did and no matter how hard I tried, you always thought of me as Danny's evil twin or something. _An experiment gone wrong_."

Sam looked down sadly before saying quietly, and regretfully. "I know."

In hearing this response, Danielle became the one who was surprised as well as confused. This was not what she expected.

"And I wanted to apologize for even saying those things." Sam added.

Danielle had been almost sure that she had come to accuse her for his current condition. Perhaps guess that Danielle's capture by the Guys in White was all just a lure into a trap that led him to be poisoned. And here she was, confronting her with an apology.

Yet, though the clone hybrid may have been having regretful feelings before in how hard she had taken Sam's insults, she just couldn't bring herself to forget those horrible feelings they had brought to her. She closed her eyes, making the tears that were still swelling in her eyes to fall down her face, and turned back to the cave wall, clenching her fists as if trying to control her emotions.

"How am I supposed to believe that coming from you?" She asked, almost in an apologetic tone of her own. She rubbed her arms out of instinct in feeling herself getting cold again until she felt something warm fall across her shoulders. She looked up to see that Sam had put a coat around her that looked like the one she had on.

"Because…Danny told me about how Vlad almost destroyed you." Sam began to respond hesitantly. "How you're always having to relive that in your nightmares."

Danielle stared at the Goth for a second, having half a mind to throw the jacket she had just put on her off and back to Sam, but it was too cold to refuse it. "He told you that?" the teenage hybrid inquired of her as she shivered involuntarily from the haunting memory of that experience.

"I don't think he wanted to at first, but I was being stubborn enough that he eventually had to." Sam said sorrowfully after seeing Danielle tremble from the thing that didn't have anything to do with how cold it was in this icy realm. "Dani, if anyone's to blame for him getting poisoned, it's me." Danielle looked at Sam mystified before she explained herself, apologetically. "You may have been the one who ran off, but I was the one who made you do that. I offended you and treated you no different than the Guys in White did." Sam sighed and Danielle could not detect any sign of mendaciousness in her voice, or in her expression before she finished. "And I'm really, really sorry."

Though the ghost girl had wanted to hear Sam admit that she had been wrong and take back the terrible things she had said, she never thought it would actually happen. The teenage Goth was always so unwavering in her opinions. But this time, Danielle just knew that Sam meant what she was saying.

It was at this time that Danielle finally smiled at Sam for the first time she had in weeks and slipped her arms through the sleeves of the jacket she had been offered. Come to think of it, she should have known that Sam had been trying to confront her with something to say. She had just been so afraid that it might just be more accusations that she didn't want to be anywhere near her, so she couldn't say them. But in doing so, she had been pushing her away, instead of the other way around.

Danielle felt a bit ashamed in herself in not realizing this before, but after fully putting the jacket on, she said, "Thanks Sam." And a cloud seemed to almost lift from over the both of them. At least until the fifteen-year-old felt a noticeable stinging pain that reminded her of what was happening to Danny. She sighed as she was mournfully reminded of the critical state he was in, that was slowly getting worse. "But…unfortunately it still doesn't change the situation, does it?" She turned back to the carvings she had been examining before and knelt down. This time, feeling warmer because of the coat Sam had brought for her.

"No, I guess not." Sam said, with a bit of a laugh as she knelt next to Danielle.

Danielle touched one of the pictures of Danny in thought. "Do you think he'll be okay?" She asked Sam, gloomily.

Sam gazed at the same carving Danielle was looking at and replied, "I sure hope so."

The clone straightened up and transferred herself to another wall, where another brave deed of Danny's was recorded. "I'm not ready for him to go Sam. I don't want to have to take over for him." She said, shaking her head. "I mean, just look at all these things he's done that I didn't even know about. I'm just a copy, I can never be the kind of hero he was."

"Danny wouldn't have even suggested you if he didn't think you qualified."

Danielle wished that they hadn't gotten on this subject again, but she faced Sam to argue it all the same. "If Vlad could never replace him, even with his _perfect_ clone, I don't see how _I_ can. Especially since I was flawed since the day I was made."

"Yeah, but Vlad's classification of a perfect clone was one that not only looked exactly like Danny, but one that wouldn't turn against him." Sam put in, folding her arms. "To Danny, you are that perfect clone." Danielle had never thought about that before. "And though, you may be right about him being irreplaceable, you're still the one who can best carry out his legacy." Sam finished with a bit of a shrug.

Danielle looked down at her shoes, thinking this over for a second, though still not fully convinced that she was ready to have such a burden put on her. She felt so helpless when she, again, looked in the direction of the carvings that portrayed Danny as the hero he had earned the right to be called. There was never a time when the ghost girl had to rely on someone else entirely to save someone she cared about. "I just wish…there was something I could still do to help him." She finally said slowly. "Even just a little."

Soon after, a Far Frozen citizen that was carrying a spear entered the shrine and approached the two girls who looked at him in wonder. He bent down to one knee and bowed, once he saw that one of the girls was Danielle.

"My ladies." He greeted them chivalrously. "Pardon my interruption, but my leader Frostbite requests the presence of Danny Phantom's peers."

Danielle and Sam looked at each other, both with the same question in mind. Was the antidote ready, or was Danny about to leave them forever? They both knew that they would soon find out as they followed the Far Frozen guard out of the Shrine and back to the medical facility.

_**Man. I don't know how many times I have looked this over and edited it, and I still don't think it's very good. I guess I kind of rushed it so I could get to the next chapter that I've been really looking forward to writing. I'll bet you're all getting anxious of what I'm going to have happen next. **_


	29. The Sacrifice

_**Okay. I first want to say to those of you who have been giving me and my sister death threats for if I killed off Danny, (you know who you are) RELAX! Sheesh! If you'll just keep following along, I promise you won't be disappointed. But I won't give you any details. I want you to find out for yourself.**_

_**(NOT speaking. This is Blackjay, her younger sister, adding a bit to the author's note without the knowledge of the actual author.) I'm sure roasting us over an open pit to …uuuuuuu… will be EXCEEDINGLY fun. Tell me can you do my sister first so I can watch…or run away… BUT according to my evilly added authors note in chapter 21, I TOLD YOU it was getting intense and the whole "hahaha I know what's gonna happen" I was rather associated with this. **_

**Chapter 29: The Sacrifice**

Danielle and Sam entered the medical facility at a run, pulling off the white Fenton Jackets and tossing them aside as they entered the room where the dying hero rested. Tucker and Danny's family had already gathered in by the time they got there. Danny himself seemed to still be unconscious and his loved ones all looked to have anxious expressions as they turned to Frostbite for the reason he had summoned them.

Danielle looked over at the medical screen that monitored Danny's vital signs and was astonished to see that his life countdown was now down from four hours to twenty minutes. Had she and Sam really been in the shrine for that long?

The Goth and the half-ghost clone joined the group with their fears growing of what Frostbite's message might be. The look on the friendly beast's face only made the tension even worse.

"Frostbite, what's the matter?" Jack was the first to ask. "Is the antidote still not ready?"

"No, it is." Frostbite said quickly, "In fact it's just over there." He indicated a stone counter where a small device with a blue liquid inside was laid.

"Well, then aren't you going to give it to him?" Tucker asked hurriedly.

Frostbite just stood there for a second, before lowering his huge eyes with a very heavy sigh. "We can't." He said sadly, shaking his head.

Danielle stood rooted to the spot in shocked confusion after hearing this response. "But…why not? It'll work won't it? I mean, he still has twenty…or…nineteen minutes left."

"Which is hardly enough time for the antidote to take full effect." Frostbite responded. "As we _have_ finally come up with a cure that would be strong enough to make the poison dissipate, it's just taken too long to make."

Danny's friends and family exchanged worried looks as Danielle went over to Danny's deathbed with her arms folded, already guessing what this was leading up to.

The Far Frozen leader looked at the physicians who were looking as solemn as everyone else in the room before he turned back to Danny's peers with the fatal message. "The Blood Blossom has already been working at him for enough time that…even with the antidote's administration…I'm afraid…it's already too late."

Danny's mother fell into Jack's arms in hearing this and he, in turn, held her close with one arm as he used his other to wrap around his daughter, who was beginning to weep as well. "I'm terribly sorry." Frostbite said as he watched this heartbreaking scene with much remorse.

Tucker and Sam looked at each other, feeling like they had already lost their best friend. Sam put a hand over her mouth, remembering the kiss she had left the ghost hero before she left the room last time. Tears swelled up in her eyes, as she now knew that her lips would never feel the tender and loving touch of Danny's returning kiss. Not even in a final farewell.

As for Danielle, despite her dread of hearing that Danny was not going to make it, she had already been half expecting this news. When the Far Frozen guard had come to retrieve her and Sam from the shrine, she had noticed that she couldn't feel any difference in Danny's condition. She was sure that if they had the antidote ready in time, they wouldn't have hesitated in giving it to him. The cloud of sorrow hung over the room as Frostbite's message was fully absorbed, and yet, the female hybrid was surprised that she wasn't crying like everyone else. But then again, she had already cried enough tonight. And as she looked down at Danny's pale face, she knew that no additional tears were going to help him wake up. No matter how much she and everyone else wanted him to.

"So that's it?" Tucker was saying to Frostbite as he looked over to where his best friend lay, about to be taken by the poison. "He's really going to…?"

"Don't say it, Tucker. Don't you _dare_ say it." Sam almost shouted, trying desperately to keep her chatterbox of a friend from saying the one word that everyone had always been afraid would happen to their beloved hero, friend and family member.

"It's not gonna stop it from being true, Sam." Jazz looked up from her father's arm that she was crying on as he continued to hold her and her mother in an attempt to comfort them.

Danielle put a hand on Danny's forehead as she listened to this conversation behind her. He had grown so cold, she almost immediately recoiled when she touched him, and she sensed inside her that his life was hanging on by a thread. By the time he was gone, she would be the only part of him left to carry on as Amity Park's, as well as the world's, hero.

Hold on. Danielle withdrew her hand from Danny's cold skin for a second in having a sudden thought. She was a part of Danny. She had his DNA. Her ecto-signature was even similar enough to fool the Guys in White. Twice. She looked at her hand as if examining it more closely as an idea was starting to form in her head.

As the wheels in the young clones mind were turning, Jack looked up at the Blue caped beast as his wife and daughter continued to weep in his arms. "Frostbite…are you sure there's nothing more we can do?" He asked the ghostly snow creature.

Frostbite could only shake his head regretfully and he walked to the stone counter, picking up the device that held the cure…that seemed to be useless now, despite their efforts. "We've tried everything to make the antidote stronger." The elderly ghost responded, twirling the device in his clawed fingers. "But unless your son had just a bit more time, or if we had only finished it sooner, I'm afraid there _is_ nothing else." He put the antidote down again and faced the Fentons with the most apologetic look.

"Actually," Danielle said slowly, as she turned around to face the others. "There just might be one more way."

This certainly got everyone's attention. Though they still looked quite confused on why Danielle would be saying this.

"Frostbite listen. The reason why I look so much like Danny is because I'm a _clone_ of him." All of the white furred ghosts looked at each other in confusion in hearing this and the Fenton's and Danny's friends looked quite surprised that she was admitting this so willingly. Danielle could tell that the same questions were coming up that Danny's family had asked when she first told the story. "I know, it's complicated." Danielle admitted. Then she approached the group of Danny's peers, as she continued to explain. "But he and I have an almost identical ecto-signatures. My strength, my power: it all came from him. So what if I could somehow…give it back?"

"Give it back?" Tucker scratched his head, looking around at the others as if asking for a better explanation, but they had none. "What do you mean?"

Danielle went on. "Together, Danny and I could accomplish a whole lot more than if we just did things ourselves. Maybe all Danny needs is a bit of backup." She said figuratively. "So if I could find a way to merge myself back with him, maybe our combined power will be able to help the antidote along and fight the poison."

"What?" The humans and Far Frozen tribe members said in unison and in surprise.

"Danielle, do you realize how insane that sounds?" Sam said bluntly. "How the heck do you think you can actually merge back with Danny?"

Danielle knew she'd get this kind of reaction, but she continued to clarify nonetheless. "He always said that I could tap into the powers that we both have and use them in ways that he can't. We already share this link, right? I could probably use that as a kind of channel to do it."

Jazz wiped her eyes before stepping away from her Father's arms to protest. "But Dani, even if it _is_ possible for you to rejoin him, what if it's not enough? The poison could overcome both of you and we'd lose you too. _Then_ who would protect Amity Park?"

"_You_ guys would. And I'm sure Wulf would be happy to help too." Danielle said plainly, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow. "But you'll lose _one_ of us either way, and I don't hear anyone else coming up with any other ideas." She held a hand out to indicate Danny. "And he's running out of time. If we don't try something, it really will be too late."

Though everyone already knew how short a time Danny had left to live, they looked at the screen where the countdown indicated fifteen more minutes. Jazz looked back at her parents as if asking for their support in the argument, but they were looking as if they couldn't find anything to say. Danny's sister looked where her little brother laid and then back at Danielle who looked like her mind was made up in what she was about to attempt.

Still, she couldn't help but say one more thing to try and convince her otherwise. "Dani, we just barely got you back from a week-long torture session you had with The Guys in White. Even if this does work…and Danny gets better…"

"What if there's no way to bring _you_ back?" Sam added when Jazz had trailed off. "What if…we never see you again?"

"Exactly." Jazz agreed. "I mean…aren't you scared?"

Danielle stared at Jazz for a second before looking around at the others, seeing that they had the same question in mind. It became clear to her that Danny had obviously told, not only Sam, but everyone else about her near-death experience back in Vlad's lab and how it had been haunting her since then.

She looked down at the floor, biting her lower lip, knowing that she would never be able to deny what they already knew. "Becoming non-existent was, and still is, the one fear I've had to live with all my life, Jazz." She said quietly. Then she turned to look at Danny's unmoving and defenseless figure. "But…the one thing I know I would never be able to live with…is knowing that there was still a chance to save him…but, I didn't take it." Everyone present in the room glanced around at each other in full discovery of the meaning behind Danielle's words before she turned back to Danny's family and friends. "But if you'll just let me, I'm willing to face that fear now." She finished, standing as tall as possible with as much confidence as she could muster to show her determination, despite her fear of what might happen.

After a moment passed, in which Jack and Maddie gazed at their adopted niece, they could see Danny's kind of fortitude coming out through the light of her clear blue eyes. The ghost hero's love for the ones he longed to protect had always been stronger than their concern for his safety. And it was obvious that Danielle, likewise, was never going to be swayed in her own decision.

Danielle was about to turn and walk back to Danny when his parents suddenly called for her to wait a minute and they walked up to her. Danielle stopped and turned back to them as they did this. "I'm…sorry if I ever caused you any trouble." She said softly, shuffling a foot into the floor a bit.

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton looked at each other in confusion and then at Jazz, Sam, and Tucker who just shrugged in uncertainty.

Mr. Fenton looked back down at his niece with a bit of a bewildered look. "What ever made you think that?" He asked.

Danielle felt a bit embarrassed by their reaction and said sheepishly, "Well…I guess I just…since Danny is your son, I thought that maybe you just took me in because…he asked you to." All of the Fentons looked at Danielle as if shocked that she had said this, making the clone feel even more foolish.

"Is that what you've been thinking this whole time?" Maddie inquired. "That we were only taking our son's happiness into consideration, and not yours?"

"No." Danielle responded, almost defensively. But after a second of thought, she became a bit hesitant. "Well…maybe…sort of…a little." Then she finally admitted with a sigh. "Most of the time."

"Oh, honey." Maddie said in pity for the young girl as she and Jack both pulled her into a hug that she wasn't quite expecting. "You were never a bother to have in our house. Ever. Anyone who has ever even _hinted_ otherwise has never been more wrong in their life."

"Or in their _afterlife_ in case you heard it from any ghost." Jack put in as they pulled away from the embrace.

Maddie bent down to Danielle's face-level, keeping both hands on her shoulders as she began to speak softly. "Dani, listen. You may have been the creation of an old friend who had betrayed us and did self-serving deeds that we probably can never forgive him for." Danielle lowered her eyes at hearing this, but then Maddie smiled and used a gently hand to lift her chin back up and regain her full attention. "But he made you from the image of our son, whom we are proud of. And we are equally as proud to have you as a member of our family, Danielle. And something much more dear than just a niece."

Danielle blinked in half disbelief at what she was hearing, or what it was leading up to. "You mean…like a…?" She started to say. Just to be sure she was hearing this right.

Jack cut in, bending down to one knee and putting a large and reassuring hand on the clone's shoulder. "If word hadn't already been getting out that you were Danny's cousin, we wouldn't have even hesitated in saying that you were our daughter."

He finished this statement with an honest smile and Danielle couldn't help but beam at the both of them. Then she just couldn't restrain herself anymore and she suddenly jumped into Jack's arms, which warmly received her. "Dad." She said happily, as she began to cry again: Only this time, with tears of joy. "Wow." She said quietly, pressing her fingers of one hand to her mouth in realizing what word had just come out of it.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked, pulling away from the hug a little to look at her, a bit confused.

Danielle laughed a bit and dried her eyes. "Nothing. I just…I never thought I'd say that again." and she wrapped her arms around Jack's neck again.

Jack smiled in response and patted the girl's back in comfort as she clung to his neck even tighter. Maddie also joined in the embrace and kissed the top of her head, running a hand through her long ebony hair.

Danny had been right. Danielle really did have a family that considered her to be one of their own. And there was no doubt in her mind that they were being absolutely sincere about it. Not like Vlad, who could never truly provide her with the one thing she had always wanted most: A _real_ father: A family.

Just then, a loud blaring noise sounded for a few short seconds and Danielle, completely startled, pulled away from Danny's parents, looking around in alert. Frostbite was at Danny's medical monitor and he looked over at Danielle and the Fentons. "It disappoints me to have to break this up, but Danny is now down to his last seven minutes." He warned and everyone was suddenly reminded of the topic they had been discussing before.

Jack took Danielle by her shoulder and turned her around to face him "Now, Dani. You're absolutely sure you want to do this?" Danielle was looking a bit nervous, but she nodded indefinitely.

Jazz ran up to the young clone and hugged her. "We may not have been able to get to know you as well as Danny did, but it was really cool to have a little sister around for a while." She said, and everyone else joined in for a last group-hug.

"If we don't see you again after this," Tucker said to the ghost-girl as everyone was separating from the hug. "I…uh, I mean, we…" he quickly corrected himself. "We'll miss you."

Sam gave a suspicious smile at Tucker who rubbed that back of his head awkwardly. Danielle was kind of giving him the same look as he cleared his throat, and she was starting to get the feeling that she knew why Tucker really did take her to the End of School dance.

But she didn't have time to think on it anymore when another alarm started blaring and Frostbite approached the group. "The poison is nearing his central core, Dear One." He said urgently to Danielle specifically. "If you still wish to proceed with this plan of yours, it's now or never."

Danielle nodded in response and took one last look at, not just Danny's family and friend's, but _hers_, and smiled in thanks at each of them before stepping away. Then she shut her eyes and triggered the spark of power that made her Go Ghost. Once she was fully transformed, she walked over to Danny's bedside.

She was still a bit scared on how this was going to work out, but she was just as determined as ever to at least try. "Well." She said as she put a gloved hand on Danny's chest, where the white Danny Phantom logo was. "Here it goes." Then she closed her eyes to concentrate on the link that was helping her to feel what he was feeling inside him. She focused her mind, forcing every other thought out, aside from the connection that would help her to add her strength to his. As she did this, she did begin to feel a bit of a strange tinkle running up her arm and spreading throughout the rest of her figure.

Everyone watched anxiously as they saw Danielle straining in concentration. She seemed to be struggling a bit, trying to first mentally force herself inside Danny. Not like overshadowing, but like actually becoming the part of the ghost boy that Vlad had used to create her, and rejoin with him. They became awestruck as they saw her whole being beginning to glow with a bright green light. She was tensing as the aura grew brighter and she grimaced as if it was starting to become harder and more painful. But she pooled all of her concentration and energy together and the green aura became so bright, it looked like she had actually turned into the source of light itself that shined with a blinding radiance that forced everyone to shield their eyes.

They heard Danielle let out a last effort cry and a great flash filled the room before the green light began to fade. Sam, Tucker and the Fentons looked up only when the light had completely died out and they saw that Danielle had disappeared.

Several lights on the screen started flashing and Frostbite turned to look at it. "There's a secondary heartbeat happening inside Danny now." He said, indicating a blue line that had appeared above the red one that was monitoring Danny's heart rate. The red line was pulsing at a very weak pace, but the blue one was stronger and was pulsing normally. Other places on the screen were indicating several other changes that had suddenly happened inside Danny.

The others started to gather around the screen and the ghost hero, wondering if this was supposed to be a good sign or a bad one, until several alarms from the screen were beginning to sound at once. The Far Frozen physicians were looking quite apprehensive and one of them looked at the screen, pressing a few buttons on it. "I think his human immune-system is trying to fight her out." He informed everyone, over the sound of the alarms. "And the poison is still trying to attach his central core." Danny's countdown had now reached less than two minutes and was still going down as his family and friends stared at the screen, clinging onto each other in fright that Danielle's plan may not have worked. Even Danny was trying to resist the merge.

That was just like him. If he had still been conscious when Danielle had presented the plan, he would never have allowed her to attempt such a thing for his sake.

The tension in the room multiplied extensively as the seconds passed. The screen continued to flash with hazard indications and the countdown was still steadily ticking away, now with thirty seconds remaining.

"Wait a minute." Frostbite suddenly said, "The individual heart-rates seem to be synchronizing." Indeed, on the screen, the blue and red lines did look to be coming closer together. The average of the individual rates was making Danny's become much stronger. Eventually the two lines merged completely into one red one and just as the countdown was reaching ten seconds, it paused, blinking for a bit. Then, to everyone's astonishment, it suddenly began to rapidly shoot up.

"It's working." Frostbite said, beaming as the young hero's vital signs indicated the results Danielle had predicted. The countdown climbed back up from the ten seconds to a full minute. Then two. Five. Ten. And it still continued speeding back up. "I think the merge has been successful. Quickly. The antidote." He said urgently to one of the physicians as the countdown shot all the way up to passed an hour before the rate began to slow down.

They didn't have to be told twice. One of them retrieved the tool with the blue liquid and Danny's family quickly moved aside to let him through. He lowered it down to Danny's arm and there was a long hissing noise as the antidote was drained out of the device and into Danny's body.

Another Far Frozen doctor looked at the screen behind Frostbite, as Danny's vital signs seemed to be stabilizing. "Antidote administration successful." He announced. And everyone let out the breaths that they had all been holding almost the whole time without even realizing it.

"And that's not all." Frostbite pointed out, indicating a chart on the screen that showed a black silhouette image of Danny that had splotches of red flowing throughout. A green color had come into the image of Danny's arm where the antidote had been given to him and it spread. Making the red color disappear as soon as it came into contact with it. But at the same time, there was a yellow color that had suddenly appeared where Danny's heart would be and was doing the same thing. "There seems to be another force that's working against the poison." Frostbite explained.

"Do you think it's Danielle's added power kicking in?" Sam asked curiously and quite awestruck at what she saw was happening.

"I'm not sure. If it is, I would have thought that she would just be delaying the poison instead of actually fighting it back. In fact, since she is just as much a ghost as Danny is, the poison should be affecting her as well. But whatever this new energy is, it's helping the antidote work twice as fast and effectively."

This seemed to be a good thing happening. Whatever this reinforcing power was, it was certainly working to help Danny and the poison had no chance against it. And as they watched, the red splotches of color on the screen gradually disappeared in being forced away by the green and yellow colors. As this happened, the color in Danny's face was returning. Danielle had actually done it. Her plan had worked.

No one was sure exactly how much time had passed since the antidote's administration, but it was certainly quite a while of just watching the screen as if turning away from it was going to make the red colors start taking over again.

As the last of the red on the black, humanoid image was disappearing, Danny began to stir for the first time in hours. Sam rushed over to him, almost wanting to make sure that she wasn't just seeing things. Everyone else hurried and gathered in a circle around Danny as he quietly moaned, slowly opened his eyes.

The boy's vision was slowly brought back to light and he saw the faces of his whole family and his two best friends beaming down at him. "Mom? Dad? Guys?" He said, as he took in everyone's faces almost in a confused manner. They all looked just as excited as he slowly sat himself up and rubbed his eyes to clear them.

It was strange. He knew that he had been in the most terrible kind of pain just before passing out, and yet he was waking up as if he had just had the best nights sleep in his life. "I'm…okay?" He asked, looking at his hands, contracting and extending his fingers just to feel their movement. "Am I…?"

Before he could finish his question, Sam suddenly threw herself on his neck. "You're cured, Danny." She said, and then she kissed his cheek. She noticed how warm his face was again as she pressed her lips against it. She almost couldn't believe that he was once again awake and actually able to hug her back.

Tucker and the Fentons each took their own turns welcoming Danny back with warm embraces of their own. Frostbite was even allowed to shake Danny's hand in congratulations at making such a miraculous recovery. Danny smiled at his friends and loved ones in the room, hardly believing this was happening himself. Before long though, he started looking around as if realizing that something was missing. "Wait. Where's Danielle?" He asked scooting himself to sit on the edge of the medical table.

Everyone's thrill in seeing Danny awake suddenly vanished after he mentioned the clone. Danny observed his relatives exchanging somewhat nervous and yet very sad looks for a moment and started to get a bit nervous himself on what these expressions might mean. "She hasn't taken off again, has she?" He asked, sliding off the bed and setting his feet on the stone floor.

"Well, no not…really." Jazz said, scratching the back of her head as if trying to figure out a way to phrase this properly.

When people tried and failed a few times to speak and explain to Danny, Sam eventually stepped up, putting a hand on Danny's chest as if observing something inside his very being. "You can probably say that…she's actually found a way…to always be with you."

"I don't understand." Danny said, shaking his head in wonder of what Sam really meant. After a long and hesitant pause, they then began to tell Danny everything that had happened in the last half hour with a bit of help from Frostbite and his fellow villagers.

Danny listened intently as they explained how they had thought he was lost because the antidote wasn't ready soon enough. And then how Danielle stepped in and volunteered to give him the power he needed to receive the cure by merging back with him. They told the story in as much detail as possible, putting in how she didn't like the idea of taking over for Danny if he died. Certain people took turns in telling important points of it that they knew of best. Sam, for one, said how Danielle had finally forgiven her for the things she had said at the dance. And Danny's parents added in how the clone did feel accepted as an official part of the Fenton family before she made her sacrifice. When Danny heard how she had even called Mr. Fenton "Dad," it made him smile.

And yet, despite knowing that she had gone through with this idea, knowing that she was indeed loved by more people than just Danny, the recovered hero was hanging his head in solemn by the time they had finished. "I still can't believe she did that." He said, putting a hand over where his heart was, now with the knowledge that the clone had literally become a part of him again.

"Dude, we didn't want her to do it any more than you." Tucker said. Putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "But, she _is_ your clone: making her just as stubborn as you are."

Danny scoff at this remark, knowing it was quite true. He supposed they really were similar in more ways than even he realized.

The room was silent for a while in which everyone present was feeling both cheerful that Danny's recovery was so successful, but at the same time mourning the loss of another friend and family member.

The ghost hero looked up at Frostbite who was looking at him with an expression of great pity. It was in just looking at the spectral beast that Danny had a bit of a thought. He bit his lower lip, dwelling on it for a second before looking back up at his furry friend. "Hey, Frostbite? That shrine of yours." He began, glancing around at the white-furred physicians who had worked so hard to help him as well. "Do you think maybe you can add on a portion in tribute to Danielle?"

Frostbite smiled pleasantly and bowed humbly. So did his fellow citizens of the icy realm. "I was just about to ask your permission to do just that, Great One."

000000

Over the next month or so, Danny continued on to protect Amity Park and other various places in the world where his ghost-fighting expertise was needed. He couldn't understand why, but somehow, when Danielle had rejoined herself with him, he had lost touch with his Phantom Phreeze. No matter how many times he tried to bring out the cold energy he knew was there, he could never get it to work. His parents had run several scans on him to understand why this was so, but the only conclusion they could come up with was that it was a side effect of the antidote. But since Danny used his plasma ray more often, he sort of got used to not having it. Besides, he always had his family and friends to help when he needed it.

Because his ice power had disappeared, for whatever reason, he could no longer use his ghost-sense to detect the presence of nearby ghosts. But he didn't seem to need it anyway. Even if an unseen specter was prowling around, ready for an ambush, Danny would somehow get these feelings of warning that danger was near. And if an attack was coming at him, he would get these swift impulses to make a certain move to defend himself. Somehow, whenever he followed them, it was always right on. It was like having a second conscience. As if he could feel that Danielle was right next to him: Guiding and encouraging him as he continued to defend his hometown.

On rare occasions, if he was about to be overpowered by a particularly powerful ghost he was having difficulty with, no matter how beaten up he was, he would suddenly feel a boost of ghost-energy that he knew was never his own, but that he could use at that moment to regain the advantage. Though even during these times, he could still never use his ice power.

So during the first part of this summer vacation, things did go quite well without Danielle being around in person. Overall, he felt okay about what she had done for him, but by far, he was the one among his family and friends who missed her the most. At one time, someone in his family had suggested using another one of their inventions called the Fenton Ghost-Catcher, which was a device that looked like a giant Indian dream-catcher that had the ability to remove all things ghostly from anything or anyone. Danny had used it once to separate his ghost and human halves to try and be in two places at once while he was still having trouble in duplicating himself. But the results of that experiment ended up being disastrous. The use of the Ghost Catcher probably wouldn't have been any good anyway in trying to get the young clone to reform. Danielle had become an actual part of him again. Though his parents had tried to find some trace of her that they could possibly use to bring her back, every attempt had failed. She no longer had an actual form that they could get a hold of. So in that regard, the Fenton Ghost Catcher was useless.

In his spare time, he almost always found himself stopping by his old house to visit his old bedroom where he had first met the clone. Once in a while, he even went to their usual meeting places, almost hoping that she would be at one of them. But she never was, so he eventually stopped doing it, wondering why he had even bothered.

Time went on and one night, he was coming home from a visit to the Ghost Zone. As soon as he was back in the new lab, he phased up through the ceiling, all the way through the ground to the top of the old Fenton Works where he touched down on the flat roof and turned into Danny Fenton. He had been coming up here quite a bit lately and it was actually a bit nice that the Op center was off of it. It seemed more roomy this way. Not to mention, much less distracting.

It was a warm summer's night. The sky was clear and a full moon shined, blanketing the whole town in a soft glow. Danny went and sat himself on the edge of the roof, letting his feet hang over the side of the building as he gazed out at this beautiful scene. Danielle would have loved to see this. He felt a refreshing breeze blow through his dark hair and he started to think back on enjoyable memories Danielle had had with him and his family.

He dwelled on these thought for quite a while before he suddenly felt something touch his right shoulder. When he looked, he found that it was a hand that wore a gold, class ring on one of the fingers. He recognized it instantly and looked up to see that it was whom he had already guessed it to be.

"Hey Sam." He said, smiling up at her as she sat down next to him. But then he looked over the edge of the building remembering that the door was locked, no one was inside and the only entrance to the roof was through the interior of the house. "How did you get up here?" He asked, looking back at the teenage Goth, confused. She pointed behind them, with a smug look and Danny saw that the Specter Speeder was landed in the center of the roof behind him. "That's weird. I didn't even hear it coming up."

"That's probably because you were more than likely being distracted with other things on your mind." Sam said bluntly. But her tone changed and her expression softened. "I was in the lab with your parents when they saw you come through the ghost portal and I guessed you would be up here." Danny nodded in understanding, shifting to a more comfortable sitting position. "So where have you been all day?" Sam asked.

"Just went to see Frostbite." Danny responded with a shrug, looking back out at the cityscape he was observing. "They're finished with that part of the shrine for Dani."

"Mm-hmm. You know, I've been wondering why you didn't suggest they make a whole other shrine for her."

Danny shook his head slowly in recollection. "She never would have wanted that." He said. "In fact she probably wouldn't want _any_ kind of memorial made for her. But…I wanted to have some way of thanking her. For what she did." After he said this, he solemnly put his right hand over his chest, as if trying to feel for the young clone inside him.

Sam took that hand in both of hers as her pity for the ghost hero grew. "I miss her too." She said, rubbing her thumbs over the back of his hand, having an idea of what he was thinking about. Then she scooted herself closer to Danny until their shoulders almost met. "But even if you _were_ conscious at the time, I don't think even you would have been able to talk her out of doing it." Danny sighed, knowing that she was probably right. "You felt it to be your duty to protect all of us. Maybe she thought it was hers to protect _you_. Like a sort of…guardian angel. Always looking out for you." She finished with a smile.

Danny looked into the Goth's face and smiled back. "And she's not the only one." He said to Sam. He withdrew his hand from both of hers and moved it up to her face where he ran the back of his fingers, softly across her cheek.

Sam put her arm around her hero's waist as they leaned in towards each other, touching foreheads. Danny pulled her hair back behind her ear, cupping her cheek in his hand after he did so. "Thanks, Sam." He said softly in the greatest appreciation for her. Sam had always been there for him in trying times. Including times where he was feeling so depressed. Even before the day he had gotten his ghost-powers. Sure, they had their arguments once in a while, but that never changed a thing.

The teenage ghost shut his eyes, listening to the sounds of the night as he felt Sam put a hand on his chest. He could feel his heart beating under where her hand was placed: The heart that was still beating because of Danielle's sacrifice for him.

Danny lifted Sam's chin to look at her face. "By the way. Frostbite said I owed you something." And he finally returned her kiss.

_**I had you guys going there for a while huh? (chuckles evilly)You had no need to worry. I had absolutely no intention of having Danny die. But I'll bet you didn't see the old switcharoo coming, did you?**_

_**HOWEVER, just to make sure you don't make spectacles of yourselves in giving me death-threats in your reviews for killing off at least one of the hero's, I'll allow you to know right now that the story is still not over and Danielle's not really completely gone. You may actually be surprised at what I have in store for the ending. **_


	30. Revenge of the Guys in White

_**All right. The next installment. I won't say much because I want you to find out yourself, but…enjoy.**_

**Chapter 30: Revenge of the Guys In White.**

The summer days continued to roll by as if everything had just gone back to normal. (For everyone else anyway.) But the misery of Danielle's absence still lingered with the Fenton's for some time and every once in a while, one of them, particularly Danny, would stop what they were doing and start to mourn for her loss.

Tucker especially had made note of this and had one afternoon, called a town gathering at City Hall. And he asked specifically for the Fenton family to attend.

Danny never liked going to these events because there were always a lot of people who would instantly recognize him, no matter what appearance he had. And his parents, who were always wearing their jumpsuits, were always standing out in any crowd. But Tucker had insisted, even to the point where he made Danny promise that he would be there. And Danny never broke a promise before.

When the young ghost hero and his family had arrived at the gathering, there were already hundreds of people there. There was a statue in the middle of the town square that had been made in dedication to Danny after he had saved the world from being hit by the asteroid. For some reason, however, it had been covered with a large cloth. This made him a bit curious, and when he asked Jazz about it, she didn't seem to have any idea of what it was about either.

As the Fenton's walked through the crowd, The teenage hybrid couldn't help but notice several of the nearest people were staring at him. He had half a mind to turn invisible, but decided otherwise in realizing that Tucker would probably think that he had not come after all. Still, he felt quite awkward as people parted to the sides to let him and his family through to the front as if he was making some grand entrance that he didn't want to do. He had hoped with such a big crowd, he wouldn't be as easily noticed, but apparently this wasn't so. He felt a huge hand on his shoulder and looked up to see his father smiling down at him in understanding reassurance.

A hush suddenly came over the crowd as the mayor stepped up to the podium to speak. "Citizens of Amity Park." Tucker greeted. "It is my honor, and yet to my grief that I stand before you today to tell you of a tragedy that has taken place in our town."

After Tucker had finished saying this, Danny began to understand why the mayor had specifically asked for him to come to this meeting and he looked in the direction of the covered statue before back to Tucker as he began to speak again. The teenage mayor went on addressing the crowd about Danielle almost as if she had gone 'missing in action,' as it were. He put in how he had even witnessed her last great deed himself, but he could not give any details of what had truly happened, for only those who were closest to her would ever fully understand.

But Tucker did say to the citizens that before Danielle's disappearance, Danny had been in a time of great peril and she had battled against all odds to make sure that he could still remain to protect the town and defend its citizens.

"And because of her great service to us, as well as to our own hero, Danny Phantom himself, a new addition to our statue had been made." Tucker gestured for the cloth to be pulled off the giant sculpture and the assigned men surrounding it uncovered the memorial.

As the giant cloth was pulled, the great statue of Danny Phantom was shown. He was standing tall and holding up an orb that was shaped like the planet Earth high above his head. But this was what Danny had seen before. What was new about it, and that he certainly did not expect, was an added figure of Danielle in her own Phantom form standing behind the figure of Danny with a hand on his shoulder and gazing up at the globe with a smile as if she was supporting him as he held it up.

The crowd mumbled and pointed in amazement and Danny looked back at his parents and sister, seeing them just gaping at the new statue in awe. He continued to glance around, seeing Sam and her parents standing amongst the crowd smiling in delight, and a distance further, Danny could see Andrew sitting on his mother's shoulders for a better look and he was pointing at the statue looking absolutely ecstatic to see the gigantic replicas of both his favorite heroes.

As for Danny himself, seeing this new and improved statue of him and Danielle standing together reminded him so much of the time back at Freakshow's train. She had been there, helping to sustain him as he was using the last of his strength to put out the fire that was spreading to his loved ones after he was pulled from the Blood Blossom ring. That was just like her, Danny thought, as he put a hand over his chest: Not wanting to actually take over for him, but always there to help him so he could stay to defend his home and its citizens from the evil that was constantly threatening it.

The reacting crowd's chatter died down as Tucker continued to speak. "Though a duplicate of this memorial already stands in every nation of the world, this addition has only been made to the Amity Park statue. For the cousin of Danny Phantom was a modest heroine who had never wanted her deeds to become publicly renowned. But I'm sure we can all agree to join in and give her thanks for her devotion. And as mayor of the city she had helped our own hero to protect, no matter how temporary, it is my honor to rededicate this statue to, not only this whole town, but to the entire Fenton family who had considered her to be so much more than a close relation."

The town square roared in applause with catcalls and loud whistles at the end of Tucker's speech. As the Fenton's applauded along with the audience, Danny looked up at his parents and saw that his mother was moved to tears. Danny mouthed a "thank you" to his friend at the podium, who nodded in his direction with a smile in response.

But just after, the ghostly teenager was starting to get the feeling that something was terribly wrong. A feeling that was making him gradually stop his applause and listen. A strange sound was mingling in with the crowds cheering that sounded distant and yet it felt like it was close at hand: and coming in fast. He started looking around, searching for the source of the noise when he felt a sort of compulsion to look up, where he then realize the noise was coming from.

Suddenly, he gasped in seeing what it was and looked back down in Tucker's direction, who was still waving at the applauding audience. In fully realizing what was happening, Danny started pushing his way through the crowd, running towards the podium.

"Danny?" Jazz called after him in confusion when she noticed her brother taking off in a hurry and Going Ghost.

Danny jumped into flight as soon as his transformation was complete and soared above the crowd that was now starting to murmur in question. "Tucker, heads up!" He shouted in earnest warning as he sped towards the podium. He tackled the now completely startled mayor, forcing them both at least ten feet back before the podium was unexpectedly hit by something that made it go up in flames.

Danny and Tucker both hit the floor hard as the crowd suddenly began to rouse in panic. Security teams quickly jumped in and started leading the crowd to evacuate the scene as two of the guards hurried over to Tucker and Danny.

"Nice save, Mr. Phantom." One of the guards congratulated as Danny hoisted himself to his knees.

"Are you all right, Mr. mayor?" The second guard asked, bending over the two boys in concern. Tucker was breathing heavily, but he nodded as he was helped to his feet.

Jazz and her parents came running up the steps of City Hall to make sure that both of the boys were all right as the last of the crowd was fleeing, under the escort of the security. "Man, that was way too close." She said.

Sam soon joined them, skipping every other step, to get to the top. "What was that?" She asked, completely flabbergasted, as she reached the others.

Danny answered by glaring up at the sky where two white, flying objects were closing in. "Stay with them." He told the security guards, regarding this family and friends. Then, he stepped forward to face the Guys in White as they came hovering in on their Aerial Chasers.

"Knew you couldn't stay in hiding if a friend was in danger." Operative O. said with a smile of satisfaction down to the teenage ghost.

"Attacking the mayor in the middle of a town meeting? Just to get at _me_?" Danny shouted back up in angered disgust. "You guys must be getting really desperate."

Just after he finished saying this, some automatic blasters came out of their vehicles that shot red beams of energy and hit Danny right on target. His family gasped as he was thrown back from the force of the blast and hit the wall of the white building behind him. But surprisingly, Danny's back hitting the wall was the only thing he really felt. He brushed off the front of his jumpsuit as if the laser blast was nothing and looked up at the Guys in White with a bit of a confused look.

The men who hat shot him were also looking perplexed. But they shook it off and fired another one of the beams at Danny, which again had no effect, aside from forcing him up against the wall again. Once more, they fired, but this time Danny was able to just swat the blast away as if it was just an annoying fly.

"Okay, you guys have made lame stuff before, but that is by far the worst thing you've ever come up with." Danny announced, giving them a disappointed look.

"It should be breaking the very essence of your being down to nothing." Operative K said, standing up in his vehicle. At this, Danny cocked an eyebrow and gave a side-glance to his friends who just shrugged. So Operative K continued, in a frustrated tone. "We found a component in the ghost-girl's DNA that was the main source of her stability. If removed, her entire genetic structure would fall apart."

Danny scoffed, shaking his head after hearing this. He knew full well that the component was the substance he had used to stabilize Danielle when she was being melted down. And these two lunatics thought that Danny would be the same.

"This new weapon was supposed to be the means of removing that element." Operative O. put in. "But it's not working on you. Why?"

"That's what made Danielle special. Even amongst us hybrids." Danny explained, folding his arms in a taunting manner. "We may have similar ecto-signatures, but the building blocks that make up our spectral structures are completely different. So anything you've made from experimenting on her is completely useless on me."

The Guys in White glared at the boy through gritted teeth in reaction to what he just informed them of.

"We should have known that there was some trick behind her quick surrender to us in the woods." Operative O remarked to his fellow agent.

Then they resorted to using their older weapons and started firing them at Danny in pure frustration. Danny dodged the blasts, leaping to the bottom of the steps of City Hall to completely avoid them. However, his family was still up at the top with the only two security guards that were left in the area and as soon as Danny was separated from them, Operative O had taken out a gadget that looked like some kind of remote, and pressed a button on it.

Danny braced himself, but the trigger wasn't for him. He heard Tucker and the others behind him cry out and he spun around to see that a series of blue walls of transparent light were surrounding the landing at the top of the steps, between the pillars that held up the roof of the white building. They started pounding on the blue walls, but though they were as thick as a sheet of paper, they were incredibly strong and unable to be bypassed. They were trapped.

How could Danny not have seen this sort of thing coming? The Guys in White were only shooting at him just now to get him to leave his family's side so they could trigger a trap they had probably rigged some time ago. And Danny had no doubt that they had programmed it to block him from going through as well.

Just after the full realization of this event had come to him, something hit him in the back and attached itself there, giving him a painful surge through his body that made him cry out and collapse to the ground. He had never felt this draining feeling before, but something inside him was saying that he knew what was causing it: The spectral-diffusion-device. The electric patch that The Guys in White had used to drain Danielle of her powers for over half a day.

"Well. Our new weapon doesn't have any effect, but it looks like _that_ still works pretty well." Operative K. said with a triumphant look to his partner. They landed their vehicles in the town square and dismounted them as Danny nimbly got to his hands and knees, trying to remove the device that was stuck on his back. But it was in a place he couldn't reach.

"What do you guys think you're doing?" One of the security guards shouted, pounding against the force field.

"And how low can you guys get in hitting him from behind like that?" Tucker added to the protest.

"Nevermind that." Operative K responded as he and his partner started walking towards their fallen pray, looking quite dignified as they did so. "Now to take you back with us and figure out how you survived the poison."

"You two stay away from my boy!" Danny's mother yelled, as they were getting closer to him.

Then, they stopped unexpectedly, not at the mother's demand, but in seeing that Danny's body was starting to let off smoke. Why? No one knew. But because of it, the spectral-diffusion-device seemed to be burning out. And to everyone's utter astonishment, including Danny's, it eventually just slid off of the side of his back and clattered onto the concrete next to him. Now the flat, rectangular gadget was completely charred black and letting off smoke, as Danny's body seemed to cool down.

"Danny, what did you do?" Jazz asked her brother as he was looking at his hands in confusion.

"_I_ didn't do anything." He turned to her with a shake of his head, but then he looked to the side and back down at his hands. "I…I think." He added in uncertainty.

Was that him? As soon as the device had hit him, he had felt himself suddenly grow really hot inside, but he thought that was just another effect of the device until it seemed to burn it right off of him. Now he felt just fine.

But as Danny's mind was preoccupied in trying to figure out what had just happened, the Guys in White had recovered from their own surprise and made blocky, metallic gloves appear over their original black ones. Danny's family tried to warn him, but by the time he looked up to see them coming, Operative K. grabbed him by the collar of his jumpsuit and yanked him from off the ground.

The young boy tried to go intangible and escape the man's grasp, but this turned out to be impossible. A closer look at the gloves he was using helped him to understand why. "Ghost-Gauntlets?" He said, astounded, after instantly recognizing the design of the gloves. "How did you get _those_? My parents brought them with us when we moved."

"Found them at Mr. Master's old place." Operative K. said. "To think, that a ghost could make something so effective against his own kind." He then looked behind them at Jack Fenton. "You were right about your parents you know, kid." He said with a malevolent smile. "They _aren't_ as mindless as we thought. Wasn't your own father the one who first came up with the idea for these?" Danny's parents looked at each other regretfully from behind the force field.

Danny growled angrily at the white-suited agent that was talking about his father like that and he raised his fist to shoot a plasma ray in his face and get him to let go of him. But before he could release the energy, Operative K used his other metal-gloved hand to grab his fist. "Ah!' Danny cried out as this happened. The anti-ghost energy from the gauntlet made his own power backfire back into his arm, causing a numbing and unbearable pain to go through it. Operative K let go of Danny's jumpsuit, as he fell to his knees holding his hurting arm.

"But that's not the subject right now." Operative O said, walking up behind his partner who was standing over the injured hybrid. "How did you survive the poison? Did that heat-wave have something to do with it?"

Danny glared defiantly up at the two men, still holding his aching arm by the wrist. "If my cousin wouldn't say anything to you, even with you constantly zapping her, what makes you think _I_ will?"

Operative K grabbed the ghost-boy by the back of his jumpsuit, lifting him off the ground again before delivering a powerful and solid punch to him that threw him back, making him hit the blue force field that held his family and the two security guards back. The force field shocked him on contact he dropped, hitting the staircase, and rolling down the steps a ways before he could stop himself.

"Your constant interference has left us ruined, ghost kid." Operative K said as he and Operative O walked up the steps towards their victim. "And so did your girly look-alike."

"Well maybe that wouldn't have happened if you had just left us alone." Danny commented, struggling to get up with his still tingling arm. In the next instant, Operative O used his own ghost-gauntlet to grab the teenager by the throat and slammed his back against the force field. The blue wall started sending mild shockwaves through Danny's body, making it impossible for him to focus his own power to resist the grip of the ghost-gauntlet.

"What antidote was strong enough to cure you of an internal Blood Blossom injection?" Operative O demanded forcefully. Danny only gave him a skeptical look. "Answer the question, spectral punk!" He raised his voice as he squeezed Danny's throat even tighter with the metal glove. "Or you'll find yourself never seeing the light of day again."

Danny would have laughed, but the ghost-gauntlet being so tight around his neck, he was too short of breath to do it. But he did manage to reply back, "I may be less than half your age, but I'm not as stupid as you are." The vice grip around his neck got suddenly worse from his insult and he tried in vain to pry the metal fingers off. "You'd kill me either way."

"All the more reason to get rid of you right now then." Operative K. said with a grin as he took out a very large anti-ghost weapon. Operative O tightened his grip on Danny's throat, and he started choking, as his partner took aim at him. The force-field the operative had Danny pinned to continued to give off painful surges and he tried again to peel the fingers off of his throat as he began to gasp for breath.

His friends and family pounded on the other side of the wall, begging for the Guys in White to let him go, but they only mocked their protests.

However, after a second, they noticed that Danny's body was beginning to glow with a golden light. The Guys in White looked surprised in seeing that the palm of the ghost-gauntlet on Danny's throat was sizzling. As the light Danny's body was emitting grew brighter, the heat it was giving off grew stronger to a point where it was getting to Operative O.

Suddenly, the light shot right out of the white Phantom logo on Danny's chest. This completely surprised Operative O, making him drop the teenager and stumble backwards all the way to the bottom of the steps. At the same time, the golden mass of heat and light sped at Operative K, hitting his anti-spectral weapon.

"Dah!" The operative cried out as the weapon suddenly became too hot to handle. He fell backwards, accidentally throwing the weapon into the air behind him and it hit the ground with a surprisingly large explosion.

Danny gasped and coughed, rubbing his neck where it was sore from the ghost-gauntlet clinging to it. Behind the blue field, his friends knelt down in concern.

"Danny, are you okay." Tucker asked.

"Yeah." Danny said weakly with a gulp of air. He looked up where the Guys in White were now at the bottom of the stairs and their weapon was in flames behind them. "What happened?"

"You tell us." Sam said, looking quite stunned, and then she said in a whisper, "That thing just shot right out of you."

Everyone was looking around as if trying to find some outside explanation and by this time, the Guys in White had gotten back up, now looking quite infuriated.

"No matter. We have plenty of other weapons to spare and we still have these." Operative K. said to Danny, holding his metal-gloved fists up. "You're peers can't help you now because of the force field, all other security has left to attend to their own business and by the presentation of the new statute, your little guardian angle double is no longer here to protect you."

They started advancing on Danny again but as they were doing so, Danny saw behind them that the flames the destroyed weapon was in suddenly jumped into the air and swirled into the same golden ball of light that had come out of him. It was as if it had a will of it's own as it sped forward, moving in front of the white-clothed agents, and circling Danny, almost crating a sort of fire shield around him that prevented the two man from even daring to take a step closer. Then the ball of fire left Danny, moving between him and the Guys in white and shot down to the ground, hitting it with another explosion of blinding light and intense heat. Everyone shielded their eyes, but surprisingly enough, the explosion only went in the Guys in White's direction, throwing them off their feet and sending them backwards several yards.

After the brighter part of the flash was over, one by one, Danny, his peers, the two security guards and the Guys in White dared a look, to see that the actual source of the light was growing steadily larger and everyone gazed at it as it began to morph and take on a particular shape. A humanoid figure that was crouched down to the concrete ground and slowly standing up as the shape became more definable.

The lighted silhouette was still pulsing with the golden light and giving off heat waves as the figure came into focus and stood to it's full height. It was a young girl with long ponytailed hair, facing the two white-clad ghost-hunters. Her eyes snapped open, glowing golden-yellow.

"You want a bet?" She said with a shockingly familiar and unwavering look.

_**You'll understand what the hot energy was all about in the last chapter. But let me know what you thought of this whole idea here. I know **__**I**__** really liked it when I fist envisioned it and so did Blackjay when I first presented it to her. But our opinions don't count for all. I'll understand if you think this was a bit…how shall I say it…questionable. I probably envisioned this happening a lot better than I actually described it here, so it's not as exciting as some other chapters I've written. **_


	31. Return of the Phantom

_**Well. Here it is: The final chapter of my story. Let's see how you like what happens.**_

**Chapter 31: Return of the Phantom**

Even though Danny and his relatives couldn't see the new arrival's face, (because her back was towards them) from what they _could_ see, she did have the same colored hair as the person they were suspecting her to be. And the jumpsuit she wore looked about the same style. But wherever it was supposed to be black, it had turned completely white. And wherever it was once white, it was now silver. Her whole figure was still glowing with the yellow aura that continued to radiate concentrated heat, especially towards the two white-suited men she was opposing.

After recovering from the unexpectedness of the girl's firework entrance, The Guys in White just glared at her. "After the failure of our last experiment, you really think we're going to take you as Phantom's replacement again?" The African-American agent demanded.

The girl looked almost as if she was offended by the very suggestion. "I'm sorry, did I look like I was crying over to you this time? I didn't say anything of the sort." But then she widened her stance, tensing herself for a fight. "But the result's still the same. As long as I'm around, you're not laying another finger on him. Especially with _those_ on." She extended her hands in front of her, shooting a stream of flames that smote the ghost-gauntlets on The Guys in White's hands, melting them right off. It was a good thing they were wearing their protective, black gloves underneath them, otherwise the resulting burns one their hands would have been ten times worse.

"Whoa!" Danny and his family exclaimed at once. If this was the person they were thinking, she definitely couldn't do _that_ before.

"What the…" it appeared that the glowing girl was just as surprised as everyone else was. She looked down at her hands that were still ignited in the flames she had apparently generated herself by complete accident. "I meant that to be a plasma ray." She said, more to herself than to anyone else.

The Guys in White took advantage of her temporary distraction and took out another weapon that shot a ghost catching net at her. She looked up only in time to see it coming and recoiled, crossing her arms in front of her face, but as soon as the net came into contact with its target, it looked almost as if it just went right through her body and fell into a smoking and tangled mess in front of Danny, behind her.

"What?" The bearded agent's eyes widened in seeing this. "That's not possible. No ghost can phase through that net. We've made sure of it."

Danny picked up the net, holding it out in front of him in examination. To his perplexed amazement, he found that there was now a large hole in it and the edges were glowing red-hot. "She didn't phase." He said in realization. "She just burnt right through it." As soon as he said this, he started to notice a white, and crystallized frost had suddenly appeared where his hands were. His eyes popped at this sight. Then, when he concentrated on it, the frost grew thicker and more transparent. And within seconds, the remnants of the net had frozen solid. He looked behind him, beaming at his parents in discovering that he had somehow regained control of his Phantom Phreeze.

Operative K turned to his partner, completely baffled. "What's going on?" He asked, as Operative O took out a handheld scanner.

"That girl's body seems to be giving off heat that's climbing to the temperature of an active volcano." He said, looking up from the screen at the white jump-suited girl, who was observing her own, still glowing, form.

After hearing this, Operative K, only spared a stunned expression at the new arrival that was standing between them and Danny Phantom. "Come on." He said, as he hurried to the Aerial Chasers that were parked a distance behind them. "We'll have to get back to the emergency facility until we can figure this out."

The two agents quickly mounted their flying vehicles and took off, but the girl saw them trying to make their escape. "The only direction you guys are going…" she said before a blast of energy from her feet shot her forward, moving her in front of the fleeing vehicles and blocking their escape route, "…Is down." The ghost that just used a form of Plasma Rocket then threw more hot flames at the flying machines from her hands that burned the engines to a crisp. Then the Guys in White went tumbling back down to the town square in a crash-landing. The white-suited agents leaped from their vehicles just before the now useless hunks of metal hit the ground and exploded into flames that climbed to over ten feet high. After the men took a hard fall and saw their flying machines in ruin, the girl touched down in front of the fire, and folded her arms with a smirk. "_Way_ down." She finished.

The yellow aura of heat had disappeared around her now, but the glow of the fire behind her made her appearance so much more magnificent. And as she stood there in front of the flames of her own making, the Fenton's and Danny's friends were finally able to see her face. Her long, white bangs hung in front of half of her face, and her eyes, being a burning yellow before, had faded down to bright green: Like Danny's eyes. But what helped Danny and his family to recognize her for sure was the _Danny Phantom_ logo that looked exactly like Danny's, even though it was now black a placed at the center of her silver belt instead of on her chest like it once was.

"Danielle." Danny blurted, standing up excitedly. Danielle looked up at him with a smile and began to laugh in a reassuring response. And as Danny started running down the steps of City Hall, she flew right over the Guys in White toward him with her arms outstretched. Both delighted hybrids met in the center of the scene with the biggest hug they could both remember since the time after Danny saved her from Vlad's lab. "Yes!" The boy said in thrilled triumph as he lifted his returned cousin up from the ground, swinging her in circles as they both laughed happily in seeing each other again. "Oh, man, I can't believe it's you. But, how did you…" he started to say as he set her down again.

Danielle held up a hand to stop him from asking a whole set of questions that were streaming into his head. "To tell you the truth, I'm just as confused as you are. So do you want to ask questions that even _I_ don't know the answer to," She looked in The Guys in White's direction with a grin as they were getting themselves off the ground. "Or do you wanna kick some butt."

After Danny saw what she was looking at with such a mischievous expression, he smiled with a side-glance back to Danielle. "I don't know." He said, folding his arms as if in contemplation. "You sure you don't want to just take 'em yourself? I mean, seeing as you're already getting warmed up." He said this, eyeing her hands, which were starting to let off hot smoke.

Danielle cocked a suspicious eyebrow at her cousin. "If this is a plan to get me to see how I _will_ be able to take over for you someday, it's not working."

"Yup, that's Danielle." Jazz said in confirmation as she folded her arms with a scoff in recollection of the protest she had just heard. Her parents and Danny's two friends nodded with indefinite smiles in agreement, as the two security guards with them still had no clue what was going. Nor did they even understand where Danielle had actually come from just now. Considering the circumstances with no one else knowing that the girl hybrid was a clone, this was probably for the best.

Danielle continued to speak to her original. "These bozos were your enemies long before they were mine, Danny. You have a bigger bone to pick with them than I do." Then she faced The Guys in White again, putting herself in a battle stance and smirked with playful banter. "But don't think that means I'm gonna to let _you_ have all the fun."

Danny smiled in response, and with the same act of preparation, he said firmly, "Wouldn't have it any other way." And there they were, once again in their back-to-back pose; ready to face their enemy, together.

The Guys in White made the first move by taking out another set of weapons that shot blue rays at the two cousin hybrids. They countered by shooting ecto rays from their palms that canceled out the blasts.

"Whoa!" Danielle commented aloud. For her own plasma ray was no longer neon green, like Danny's was. The beam she had fired was a bright yellow.

"Cool." Danny had noticed this change as well and just smiled even more. "Now we can better tell who nailed what for tie-breakers."

At that moment, The Guys in White put their hands to the microphones that were inserted in their ears. "Attention. Commencing with plan B. All units move in, now."

At their command, men in metal armor and wearing helmets that looked like the assistants at their lab started running into the town square from behind nearby structures in all directions. Men that were probably from some other research location that the Phantoms still didn't know about and who were still loyal to their white-clad employers. As well as not jailed yet.

As they were taking out weapons, the two cousin hybrids jumped into action and an all-out battle began. Lights from blasts being shot left and right flashed like fireworks as the Fenton's watched the fight from behind the force fields that wouldn't even let them go on the stairs. Tucker had tried already to hack into the small generators that were on the sides of the pillars with his PDA, but the Guys in White had taken no chances in making sure it was techno-geek proof. Just like the controls in their research facility in the woods. The two security guards also tried to deactivate the force fields with their own technical-know-how, but that was useless as well. So as much as the companions of the two Phantoms wanted to come and help them, all they could do was watch.

But as the battle was going on, several questions aroused in their minds that they started to privately discuss.

"How do you think she got that fire power?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, if she had the ghost-sense, I don't see how she could have had _that_ the whole time." Tucker commented.

"Maybe she _didn't_ have it until now." Jazz suggested. When the others looked at her to clarify, she began to explain her hypothesis. Danielle may have had an ecto-signature that was similar enough for her to become a part of Danny again, but it differed enough that she was able to keep her own individuality. But when she made the merge, not only did her Phantom outfit completely change, but the cold energy she had from her ghost-sense must have also joined with Danny's self-generating ice power. "And since Danielle doesn't have the cold energy anymore…"

"She's been left with extreme heat." Sam finished in realizing it already. "That's right. That fire destroyed the Blood Blossoms back at Freakshow's train. Danielle's heat must have been the second force inside Danny that helped the antidote to cure him."

"You know that's probably also why Danny couldn't use his ice power after that." Mrs. Fenton commented, rubbing her chin in thought. "The cold and hot energies were always canceling each other out." As she was saying this, they saw Danny use his Phantom Phreeze to generate a long sword made out of solid ice that he used to deflect away beams of deadly energy from the armored men's weapons. "Until now." She added with a smile, indicating how her son clearly had no trouble working that power anymore.

Danielle saw how Danny had generated the sword to expertly deflect the blasts that were aimed for him. "Showoff." She couldn't help but tease him with a laugh as he threw the sword like a javelin into the barrel of a large bazooka that was about to fire at him, making it short circuit before the shot was made.

Then, spherical devices with flashing lights were being thrown at Danielle. But she stood firm and began to glow with the bright yellow aura again, radiating heat waves that melted the bombs before they even got within a foot of her. Small puddles of liquid medal dropped to the ground all around her when the yellow aura faded.

"Look who's talking." Danny said with an impressed smile in seeing what his cousin just did.

After that, several of the armored men started shooting at them both at once. The ghost-hybrids dodged with a series of backhand-springs that led them to meeting back-to-back where they then countered with a sweep of their left hands that sent forth waves of ecto blasts.

Danielle looked up and saw three more of the cronies on the roof of City Hall, and Danny saw four were coming on either side of them. With that, as the men on the roof were about to jump on them, Danielle performed a no-hand cartwheel, charging up her feet with her yellow ecto energy, and landed in a handstand on Danny's shoulders. As she was doing this, Danny charged up his fists with green glows. One of the men on the roof jumped and Danielle used her charged feet to shove him right back up and hit the others that were on top of the white building and Danny shot plasma rays from his hands that hit the men that were coming at them from the sides. The two looked like a sort of totem pole before Danielle used her arms to push off of Danny's shoulders, landing on her feet in front of him. Then Danny shot down the three men on the roof who were preparing for another assault.

After they landed in a dog-pile at the bottom of the stairs, the two hybrids both looked around, seeing even more coming at them with charged weapons. "You know, I'm not sure there was this many back at their lab in the woods." Danny commented to his clone, sounding a bit more annoyed rather than nervous. "I think it's time we heated things up a bit more."

Danielle nodded in acknowledgment and when the associates of The Guys in White raised their weapons, the two cousins linked hands, and Danny swung Danielle in a circle around him as she generated super-hot flames from her feet that instantly melted off the barrels of the guns as soon as her shoes came into contact with them.

The Guys in White watched uneasily as the two Phantoms unhooked their hands, and using a combination of their own energies and martial arts moves, they gradually beat down the army men that had just recently had functional weapons. The two white-clad partners had never seen these two teenagers fighting together and their teamwork was astounding. Despite the fact that they were two separate beings, they worked together as if they were one.

But that would soon change. Operative K took out the weapon that they had tried to use to destabilize Danny before, but now took aim at Danielle, as she was preoccupied with some more of their employees.

Danny only saw this happening as the weapon was charging up, and before he could warn the girl version of him, Operative K fired and the fatal red beam hit its target. Danielle cried out as she was thrown to the ground from the force of the blast.

"No! Dani!" Danny yelled as he saw her land on her back, skidding to a halt on the hard concrete. Danny shot a green plasma ray at Operative K, but Operative O jumped in front of him and activated a shield that protected them both from the ghost boy's attack.

"Let's see how well you do without your little tag-along." The African-American operative suggested as he shot another blast from the weapon. Danielle ducked her head under her hands as she generated a shield with her bright yellow power that got hit by the beam in her stead.

"Huh?" Operative K said, confused. He pulled the trigger of the weapon again but this time, Danielle shot golden ecto rays from her eyes. The beams met with a flash of light and both the girl and the white-suited man fought to overcome their opponent.

Danny and his peers were fearful for a second that Danielle would lose. That weapon had already hit her once. Any minute she would probably start turning into a mass of ectoplasm. But for some reason, she kept the beams coming from her eyes, keeping the agent's beam at bay as she slowly stood up with effort. Then, with an extra boost of energy, she forced back the beam, canceling it out.

As much as Danny was surprised from this, he quickly took advantage of the Guys in White's hesitation, by phasing through the ground and, grabbing the weapon away from Operative K's hands as he flew back out of the ground. Then he threw the gun towards Danielle who tossed a fireball at it that completely destroyed it.

"That didn't effect you?" Operative O asked Danielle, looking quite taken aback. "At all?"

_Now_, it was time for Danny's surprise to take effect at how the weapon didn't work. He saw how Danielle just stood there and folded her arms with the same kind of look Danny had given the two agents when the weapon had failed to work on him. "Please." She said in a sassy tone to the Guys in White. "You guys have hit me with a lot worse things than that. What happened that made you come up with _that_ kind of thing?"

"Dani, you should be melting. That weapon was supposed to destabilize you." Danny said, looking stunned at how she was saying this so cheekily.

As soon as he finished his sentence, Danielle looked at her older cousin with a shocked look of her own. "Really?" She asked, seeming to get a bit nervous. But then it became more confused as she looked down at herself. "But…I feel fine."

"You got hit almost three times with that." Danny reminded as he approached her. "Two of them you blocked, but even those should have had some effect on you. And they nailed you with the first shot."

"I know. But I promise I don't feel any different." Danielle replied with a shrug. Then she looked down at her feet where she used to always see a green puddle of goop while her form was unstable. "And I'm certainly not melting."

Operative O took out his scanner again to take a look. Then his eyes widened after just a second of examination. "This is impossible." He stated, looking at his partner. "Her ecto-signature is completely different than what it used to be."

"What?" Everyone had said in unison, including the captives behind the blue force field.

Tucker turned to his fellow prisoners. "But how?"

Maddie was the one who answered. "I'll bet that happened when she merged with Danny. And her genetic structure must have also changed to something more stable and less reliable on that one element they had found in her before." (The security guards shrugged at each other, not understanding what they were talking about.)

Now Danny grinned broadly and turned to the Guys in White with the final conclusion. "Making even _Dani_ immune to the weapons you made from having her in your torture chamber."

The white-clad agents glared at him and Danielle and gave an order for all of their minions to attack. Danielle jumped to Danny's side as their enemies were starting to close in around them once again and in much greater numbers than before. Both Phantoms braced themselves as dozens of weapons were being charged up at once.

The two ghostly cousins, looked at each other with a nod and they grasped hands for a second. As their palms slowly separated, a single sphere of ecto-energy began to grow and their individual green and yellow energies swirling together inside it. When the ball was a considerable size, together, the cousins raised it above their heads. Then it flashed brightly, sending out green and yellow waves that blew back the surrounding men. Though the armored cronies kept coming at them, the continual waves did too, until they were all blown back and away from the two teenage ghosts, hitting the ground, and going unconscious.

"Wow!" Jack said in amazement, along with pretty much everyone else that witnessed this awesome display of power.

The sphere of energy dissipated and the teenage hybrids lowered their hands back down to their sides, and they faced the Guys in White with quite bragging looks.

Both the men took several steps backward in intimidation. They now had no weapons effective enough, and no goons to do their dirty work.

"Let's get out of here." Operative O quickly said, activating the jetpack he still had. Operative K did the same and they lifted off.

"Oh, the cowards." Danny said in disgust, as he was about to take off after them.

But Danielle caught him by the arm, holding him back. "I got 'em." She reassured, and then she used her Plasma Rocket to catch up and block the Guys in White's way again in the blink of an eye. "Haven't we been through this once already?" She asked them as if annoyed, with folded arms. Then she grabbed the jetpacks, turned them intangible and pulled them right off of their backs. Without the fueled packs to keep them airborne, the two men tumbled back to the ground, landing in a heap where they had just been a few seconds ago.

Danny flew up and hovered a few feet above them with his arms folded and looking stern. "Believe me. If the situation were way different, I'd _let_ you guys do that. And so would Dani over there." He indicated the other ghost-powered teenager that was flying above them.

"But it's not: is it?" Danielle said. Then she let go of the jetpacks, which shot into the air (as they were still active even without their operators) and spun out of control like balloons that were loosing their air until they smashed into each other with a midair explosion. Then the ghost girl landed opposite Danny, behind the Guys in White as they were warily getting to their feet.

"I've been so lenient with you guys for years, even though I knew full well that you were still coming after me." Danny continued to scold the two men as if he was the grownup disciplining trouble-making teenagers instead of the other way around. His voice steadily got louder and more enraged as he rebuked them. "But in kidnapping and torturing my little cousin, poisoning me, threatening my friends and family, and causing a panic among hundreds of innocent people, you guys have officially…crossed…the line." He emphasized each of these last words angrily, before his voice became softer, and more threatening. "I may be no certified government official, but I think it's safe for even me to say to consider yourselves demoted."

Danielle ignited her fists in flames as she added with a glare, "If not fired." Then she slammed her fists into the ground, sending a trail of intense heat at the Guys in White through the gravel that melted the pavement around them. Then, spouts of the red-hot concrete spewed out of the ground and enclosed the two men in a domelike cage that Danny froze solid to cool down before it collapsed on the men inside it. Once the gravel stopped glowing from the heat, The Guys in White pulled at the bars. But they were too strong to break and neither agent had any more gadgets handy enough to cut themselves out.

Danielle smiled at her cousin's and her handiwork and then flew to the other side of the cage, landing next to Danny who also touched down.

"Guys that was so cool!' Tucker blurted excitedly from behind the force field. Then after a second, he stammered a bit "…or that was _hot_…or…"

"Oh, whatever, it was just totally awesome." Sam ended up finishing for Tucker and everyone just laughed in agreement. Except for the Guys in White of course and their cronies who were all still out cold from the powerful blast of ghost energy the Phantoms had released in unification.

Danielle shrugged with a bit of a giggle before turning to Danny with a bit more of a serious look. "Except, at the moment we've got one more problem on our hands." She said, thumbing in the direction of the people who were still trapped behind the force field.

"Right." Danny said after being reminded of this. Then he shot a harsh look at the Guys in White and approached the concrete cage. "And you guys have the remote that can help us solve that problem." He extended his hand out with his palm facing up. "If you would please hand it over."

"Or what?" Operative O folded their arms in ignorance.

Danny didn't lower his hand. "You know, every time you said that to me, has it ever turned out as anything good? Especially when I was the one who had the advantage."

"Or _do_ you?" Operative K said with a mischievous smile. "As long as we have the remote, you can't release your friends, Phantom. But if you let us out of this, we might consider it."

Danny cocked an eyebrow and folded his arms. "Or I could just phase in there, overshadow you, and make you smack your friend on the side of the head until he gives it up."

Both operatives looked at each other thinking of how embarrassing that would look. Danny couldn't help but smirk at the way they reacted to this and held out his hand again. "And I can easily come up with other creative definitions of 'abject humiliation' for you. Unless you willingly give me the remote." Danny's smile broadened and he waited with confidence. He knew that The Guys in White were way too dignified to be subject to the interrogation of a teenager.

Eventually they rolled their eyes in defeat and Operative O reached into his coat, pulled out the requested device and slapped it into the boy's outstretched hand with an ignorant huff.

Danny received the remote with a smug nod and tossed it to Danielle. "You do the honors Dani. I'll keep an eye on the government frauds until the _proper_ authorities get here."

"Who so happen to be on their way already." Said one of the trapped security guards who must have called with his earphone as the fight was going on.

Just after he said this, the sound of approaching sirens could be heard in the distance and several police vehicles came screeching into the town square. "Just in time." Danny commented as armed policemen filed out of the cars.

"Aw." Danielle wined, but still smiling in a playful manner. "But we did such a cool job on the cage. Can't we just keep them in there for a bit more public humiliation?"

Danny laughed knowing that the new and improved ghost girl didn't really mean what she was saying by the bantering tone in her voice, but he shook his head and responded anyway. "I think being in a jail cell next to Freakshow will be embarrassing enough for them." He pointed out.

Danielle saw the reasoning behind what her older cousin said. Two once-called government officials caught by two teenagers and in the same position as the criminal they had accidentally release, but who was also eventually thrown back into jail. Danielle giggled at the thought of this.

So, after the Phantoms phased the Guys in White out of the cage, and handed them over to the police, the cage was melted back down to its original state. The armored men were finally coming around as they were being taken care of as well.

With that set and done, the Phantoms were finally able to change back to their human forms, (Danielle's was just the same as it was before, despite the change of her Phantom outfit) and make their way to the force fields with the remote they needed to deactivate them.

As soon as Danielle used it, the now freed Fenton's were the first to hurry down the stairs of City Hall to pull both of the young heroes into a strong and welcome embrace. Sam and Tucker didn't join in just yet and the two security guards went to help the police to round up the members of the criminal organization.

By the time Sam and Tucker did join in, they and Jazz just got so ecstatic and couldn't stop talking about the action they just saw the two teenage hybrids participating in. They complimented Danielle for her new look in her now white and silver jumpsuit and awesome fire power (which they ended up calling the _Phantom Phlare_ to sort of match Danny's _Phantom Phreeze_) while Danny was congratulated for the return of his ice power and received thoughts of relief in avoiding yet another close call.

"Man. Now I feel kind of awkward." Tucker commented. When Sam asked him why, he explained, "Danielle suddenly reappears after I just finish a presentation of the new statue as if it was some kind of funeral service."

Danielle overheard this and gave Tucker a look of mystification before turning from the hug she was currently getting from Mrs. Fenton to look in the direction of the statue. And her eyes widened at the sight of the image of herself that had been added to it. She hadn't even been able to look at it until now because she was so busy fighting off the Guys in White and their army (who by this time had all been loaded in the backseats of the police cars and driven off to jail). The ghost girl slowly walked towards it, just gaping up at the huge sculpture before turning to Danny. Surprisingly, instead of protesting against it, she was just beaming. "What's this for?" She asked, sounding bewildered though quite overjoyed.

Danny smiled with a shrug and walked to her side. "Just a token of gratitude, Dani."

Jazz walked up behind the both of her younger siblings and instantly said to Danielle before she could respond in any way, "And don't start asking about what for. You know full well what you did to earn this and it's staying."

Danielle raised her eyebrows at the way Jazz said this and then she scratched the back of her head with an embarrassed laugh. Then she looked at Danny, who was giving her the same look as his sister was.

"Speaking of which," Jack said, as he came up to his children at the foot of the statue. "That was quite the entrance you made, Danielle."

"Yes it was." Maddie added. "No matter what happens, you just keep coming back, don't you."

Danielle looked at the faces of the family and friends that were just as much hers as they were Danny's, and smiled. "I can never replace Danny," she started to say before turning to the one she was made from. "But I can always be there for him."

Danny responded with a warm smile of his own and hugged his cousin that he could just as well call as a little sister. "What else is family for?" He asked rhetorically.

Then, there at the foot of the grand Phantom memorial in the town square, the other Fentons, Sam and Tucker gathered in for a group hug around Danielle that instead of in goodbye, was in welcome home. And this time, Danny was able to join in.

000000

Within the week, the rest of Amity Park learned of Danielle's return and she was warmly welcomed back by a lot more people that she had even anticipated. Little Andrew, by far showed the most energy in seeing Danielle again, especially with her new white and silver jumpsuit that his mother came to admire. "Now we can actually tell the two of you apart from a distance." She had said with a laugh.

The female double of the teenage ghost hero continued to help him in keeping their hometown safe. Once in a while she and Danny still had arguments about whether or not she was able to take over for him, and perhaps she could, someday. But for the moment, she still ended those conversations by saying that she wouldn't even exist or even be on his side if it hadn't been for her cousin in the first place. And there was no substitute for the original.

But that was a side-note from the fact that Danielle remained with the Fenton's from that day on. She may have still had to resort to calling Mr. and Mrs. Fenton her aunt and uncle, especially in public, but that didn't matter to her. She already knew for sure that they still loved her as their own daughter. Danny and Jazz even eventually started calling her 'Sis' as a secondary nickname.

Once in a while she still had nightmares about Vlad Plasmius returning and coming after her again. Though these visions still frightened her, she was always reminded, especially by Danny, that even if Vlad did manage to come back, the young clone took comfort in knowing that she had made so many changes in her appearance and structure that there was no way that the villain would even be able to find a way to destabilize her. In addition, Danny would always be there to protect her from any such danger.

In a way, the teenage hybrid may have had to give up a part of herself to save the hero in whom her entire existence was possible because of, but in doing so, she had gained her own identity. She still qualified as a clone because her DNA profile was still similar to Danny's. But her since her merge with him, and then separation, she had her own unique ecto-plasmic signature. (This was probably how her human form remained the same while her ghostly appearance had changed.) She no longer felt that she was just an altered copy of someone else. She was her own person.

And best of all: She now had her own family that loved and cared for her as much as she did them. The empty space that had been causing her so much grief and pain before had by this time completely disappeared. And for the first time in her life, she was whole.

She was home.

**The End**

_**So. That's the end. And out of popular demand, a possible sequal is actualy on the way, though I can't garuntee that it will be nearly as good with character development as this one. I'd like to bring to mind though, seeing as people have been doing this a lot lately, I would appreciate it if you didn't try to make your own sequal or any kind of build-off of this. I've already talked to several people who want to do that, and what they presented me with so far takes a completely different turn from what I wanted this whole thing to take, like adding original characters and putting it as a crossover. Dont get me wrong, I really like stories with those, I just never had interests in putting them in my own. Especially this one. I am open to ideas in what to put in a sequal, but if there's going to be one at all, I would rather be the one to write it. Not that someone else does it for me. **_

_**But anyway. Let me know what you guys thought of this one. Especially with Danielle coming back with a new look and a new power. There's a picture of her with her new look on my livevideo account now. **_

_**Final disclaimer**__**: The show Danny Phantom is aired by Nickelodeon and created by Butch Hartman. I own none of its original characters that I used in this story other than the older version of Danielle that you can still view on livevideo or on deviantart. **_

_**Thank you to all you readers who have stayed with the whole story. Once again, I hope you enjoyed my now completed story. **_


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